Lesson video

Hello, my name's Miss Gilyeat and I'm your geography teacher for today.

In today's lesson, we are going to be learning about plastic pollution, which is lesson five of the Anthropocene topic.

Let's get going.

Our lesson outcome for today is that you can explain the causes, scale, and impacts of plastic pollution on people and the environment.

We've got three keywords for today's lesson.

The first is biodegradable, so material or substance that can break down naturally over time by the action of bacteria, fungi, or other living organisms. Microplastic are tiny pieces of plastic, usually smaller than five millimetres, that either come from the breakdown of larger plastic items or are made that size.

And an ocean garbage patch is a large area of the ocean where plastic and other waste collects, trapped by circular ocean currents.

These three are highlighted in bold throughout lesson if you need to refer back to them at any point.

We've got two learning cycles.

So first of all, we're gonna look at what the problem is with plastic, and then we're gonna look at in a bit more detail about the impacts of that plastic pollution.

Okay, so to start off with, plastic is a synthetic material made from chemicals found in oil and gas, and these are non-renewable fossil fuels.

Okay, so eventually they will run out.

It has numerous benefits of using plastic.

It can be shaped and moulded into almost any shape required.

It's strong, lightweight, and waterproof, which is why it is used so much.

Okay, I want you to have a quick chat with the person you are sat next to.

What do you think plastic is used for? Can you think of any items or can you see any items around the room? Now, there are lots of different uses of plastic.

Okay, so we can put these into different categories.

So they are used in transport, in industry, in the home, and everyday items. Okay, so can you think of any other examples of ways that we use plastic in those categories? Okay, so I've got some here.

So for transport, we use it in electronics, for car parts and tyres.

In industry, construction materials and medical supplies.

At home, furniture, food containers, and everyday items. Clothing, so lot of clothing is made out of polyester nowadays, which is made out of plastic.

And everyday items such as packaging.

You might have got lots of different ones.

We use plastic in loads of different things.

Okay.

True or false? Plastic is a renewable resource.

It's false.

And can you tell me why? Plastic is a synthetic material made from chemicals found in oil and gas, which is a non-renewable fossil fuel.

Well done if you got that right.

Now, if you have a look at the graph here, you can see that you've got time on the bottom from 1950 to 2019, and global plastic production in million tonnes worth on the y-axis.

Now looking at that graph, we can see that plastic production has exponentially increased.

So it's just gone up and up and up since the 1950s, apart from around 1973 and 2008, there was a slight decrease, but other than that, plastic production has just carried on increasing.

Now, over 400 million tonnes of plastic are made each year.

That is a lot of plastic.

Now, plastic is not biodegradable, so it doesn't break down naturally.

Instead, it breaks into smaller pieces called microplastics, which stay in the soil, water, and the air, and it can last for hundreds of years in the environment.

So we're gonna look at some lifespans of different plastic items. Now, a plastic bag lasts up to 500 years, a plastic bottle up to 450 years, and a fishing net up to 600 years.

So they don't biodegrade, but they just break into smaller, smaller pieces of plastic.

Okay, let's check our understanding.

So can you remember, what is the lifespan of a plastic bag? It's up to 500 years.

Well done if you got that right.

Okay, let's have a look.

Where does plastic actually go then? We make so much of it, so where does it end up? Okay, now some of that plastic is incinerated, which means it is burned.

Okay, and we can burn it actually to create energy as well.

However, that's not very good for the environment because it does release pollution when it's burned.

Some plastic is recycled.

However, only quite a small percentage of plastic is recycled.

Many plastics are quite difficult and expensive to recycle, and therefore it's just easier to throw them away and then create new plastic items. Most of our plastic ends up in landfill sites, like we can see on the slide here.

So this is a hole in the ground where we put a lot of our rubbish, and then when that hole becomes full with rubbish, eventually we'll put dirt on the top of it and try to make it look like the natural landscape again.

However, it does take hundreds of years for plastic to break down.

Okay.

Well, quite sadly, quite a chunk of plastic ends up in the environment.

Okay, so plastic might end up blown away as litter that blows into rivers, oceans, and that can harm wildlife.

Okay, let's check our understanding.

Can you name the four places that plastic ends up? Okay, so it can be incinerated, it can go to landfill, it can be recycled, and the environment.

Well done if you got that right.

Okay, we're on to our first task for this lesson.

So first of all, what I'd like you to do is describe what has happened to plastic production since 1950.

And then I would like you to list three plastic items that you have used today.

Pause the video and have a go at this first task.

Okay, let's have a look at the answers for this.

So as a model answer for the first question.

I have put, plastic production has increased exponentially.

In 1950, there was zero tonnes of plastic produced.

In 2019, there was around 470 million tonnes of plastic produced annually.

Okay, three plastic items that I have used today is a toothbrush, a water bottle, and my cardigan, okay, which is made out of polyester.

Okay, let's get going with our second learning cycle, looking at the impacts of plastic pollution.

Now, plastic pollution is one of the biggest environmental and social problems the world is facing today.

Eight to 12 million tonnes of plastic enters the ocean each year.

Plastic pollution harms and kills wildlife.

Plastic pollution is creating ocean garbage patches, which are large areas in the ocean where plastic is accumulating.

And microplastics are entering the food chain.

So remember, microplastics are tiny pieces of plastic.

Some organisations have now started to remove plastic from the ocean.

So we're gonna look at some examples of how this is happening.

So as I've just said, between eight and 12 million tonnes of plastic enters the ocean each year.

That's like dumping a rubbish truck full of plastic into the ocean every minute.

Okay, so what do you think? I want you to have a think.

How do you think plastic actually gets into the ocean? Have a quick chat with your partner.

Okay, we're gonna look at how it gets into the ocean.

So what can happen is, first of all, there can be litter that's thrown away on land.

So plastic is dropped in the streets or parks, can be blown by the wind or washed by rain into drains and rivers.

Okay, so it can enter some form of water system by the wind if it's just dropped on the land, then these rivers can carry it.

Now, rivers act like plastic highways carrying waste from cities and towns into the sea.

So all rivers lead to the ocean, and if wind blows litter into the river, then that river then carries that plastic to the sea.

As well as that, storms and floods, so bad weather can wash large amounts of plastic from the land into the ocean as well.

So if you've got a large storm, that can either transport more material within the river, but also if you've got something like a tropical storm where there's a lot of coastal flooding, that can also mean a lot of plastic litter can enter into the ocean as well.

And some plastic is dumped or lost at sea from fishing boats and fishing items like next, ropes, and packaging.

So unfortunately, that is a chunk of the plastic in the sea as well.

Okay, so can you remember, how much plastic enters the ocean each year? Eight to 12 million tonnes.

Well done if you got that right.

Okay, so we're gonna look at some of the impacts that this plastic pollution is having on wildlife.

Now, many animals mistake plastic for food.

So what they do is they try and eat the plastic.

When they eat that plastic, it can get stuck in their stomach, so they can't digest it.

Now, that can actually mean that the animal thinks that it's full, so it doesn't want to eat anymore.

So eventually, it starves to death, or it just can't digest the item and it can't eat anymore food.

And therefore, yes, it sadly dies.

Sharp plastic can injure mouths and bodies of the animals.

And animals can get trapped in plastic rings, nets, or bags.

Over one million seabirds and 100,000 million animals, marine animals die each year from plastic waste.

So it's really, really sad.

Yeah, it's really awful that this is happening across the globe.

Okay, let's check our understanding.

Can you give an impact of plastic pollution on wildlife? So you could have had, many animals mistake plastic for food, which can block their stomachs and cause them to starve Sharp plastic can injure mouths or bodies, and animals can get trapped in plastic rings, nets, or bags.

Well done if you've got any of those.

Now, a lot of the plastic in the ocean ends up in ocean garbage patches, which are large areas in the ocean where plastic accumulates, which means it collects due to circular ocean currents called gyres.

Okay, so if you have a look at the slide here, you have got a map of the world, and the arrows in the ocean show the movement of these gyres.

So they're basically ways that the water is moving around our ocean.

Now, because a lot of them are moving in a circular motion that means that plastic is accumulating in the middle of it.

Now, the Great Pacific Garbage Patch is located between Hawaii and California, and it's the largest ocean garbage patch in the world.

It contains millions of tonnes of plastic waste, making it a huge environmental problem.

Okay, so if you went to that area, the whole top cover of the ocean just looks like it's completely covered in plastic.

Now, as I said earlier, plastic is not biodegradable.

It just breaks down into smaller and smaller pieces and eventually becomes a microplastic.

Now, these are tiny pieces of plastic, smaller than five millimetres.

Now, some pieces of these plastic are so small that you can't even see them with a human eye.

Now, these particles enter rivers, oceans, and soil, and are eaten by small animals.

Okay, now, there are growing concerns about the impact of microplastics in the food chain and on human health.

So if these little bits of plastic get into our food systems, it's potentially not good for us as humans, not only the animals that are eating them.

Okay, so let's check our understanding.

True or false? Plastic will eventually just biodegrade, so we don't need to worry about it.

That is, of course, false.

And can you tell me why? Plastic is not biodegradable.

It just breaks down into smaller and smaller pieces and eventually turns into microplastic.

Well done if you got that right.

Okay, let's have a look at how plastic can enter the food chain.

Now, yeah, so this microplastic can basically move up the food chain and enter us as humans.

So let's have a look how.

Now, plastic breaks down into microplastics in the ocean, so it just turns into smaller and smaller pieces.

Now, what can happen is plankton, which are tiny, tiny sea creatures, eat that microplastic.

What can happen then is that small fish eat the plankton, which has got the microplastic in it.

Bigger fish or other seafood eat that smaller fish, and eventually, humans may catch that fish or seafood.

And if we do that, that means that microplastic that was first put in the sea by us and then eaten by plankton has ended up backing our bodies.

Now, scientists are studying how this might affect human health, and there's more and more research on the potential impacts of this.

Okay, let's check our understanding.

Scientists are studying the impacts of microplastics in humans.

That's true.

And can you tell me why? Microplastics can enter the food chain in the ocean.

Scientists are worried about the potential health impacts of microplastics in the food chain and humans.

Now, there are a few nonprofit organisations, including the Ocean Cleanup Project, which have started to remove plastic from the sea.

A nonprofit organisation is usually a charity, which it doesn't make money, but it's trying to help solve a problem basically.

So the Ocean Cleanup Project was founded in 2013 by 18-year-old Boyan Slat after a scuba diving trip where he was shocked to see more plastic in the ocean than there were fish.

This experience inspired him to take action and find a solution to plastic pollution.

So he was really, really shocked by this, and he wanted to try and, yeah, reduce the problem.

So the Ocean Cleanup Project has got a couple of different projects which aim to do this.

So on the slide here, we've got a couple of them.

So the one on the left shows an image of the project using ocean currents to collect plastic waste, which can then be removed from the sea.

So what they do is they look at where ocean currents go, and basically they put kind of these nets out which try to collect some of that plastic as it moves around in the current.

There's also something called the Interceptor, which is a solar-powered machine that collects plastic from rivers and then stops the waste before it actually reaches the ocean.

So there's an image there of an Interceptor.

Okay, we're on to our final tasks for this lesson.

First of all, what I'd like you to do is list three impacts of plastic pollution on wildlife, and then answer, what are microplastics? Pause the video and have a go at those questions.

Okay, and finally, for this lesson, you are going to design a new invention that could help remove plastic pollution from the ocean or from rivers.

So what you are going to do is you are going to draw and annotate your invention.

So what is it called? Label some of the different parts, show how it works in water, and indicate where it collects plastic and how it is powered.

So good luck with designing your invention.

Okay, let's have a look at some answers.

So impacts on wildlife could include animals get trapped in plastic rings, nets, or bags.

Sharp plastic can injure mouths or bodies.

Many animals mistake plastic for food, which can block their stomachs and cause them to starve.

And for microplastics, these are tiny pieces of plastic, smaller than five millimetres, and they form as plastic is not biodegradable.

It just breaks into smaller and smaller pieces.

And here's my invention that I created, which removes plastic from the ocean.

So it's a floating solar-powered boat with robotic arms on each side.

Okay, now these robotic arms can actually collect plastic from the ocean.

Okay, when it collects it, there are conveyor belts that take the plastic onto the boat, which can then be removed.

The plastic is then sorted into bins, which can be either recyclable or not Also, under the boat, there is underwater nets that gently collect plastic without harming marine life.

And it uses GPS to track the most polluted areas.

So that's my invention.

I'm sure you've got a fantastic idea as well.

Okay, we've got a summary for today's lesson here.

So most plastic is made from fossil fuels, and it is not biodegradable.

Plastic production has grown rapidly since the 1950s.

Plastic waste pollutes land, rivers, and oceans.

Microplastics enter food chains and make harm human health, wildlife can be injured or killed by plastic waste.

Plastic accumulates in ocean garbage patches.

And there are a few non-profit organisations, including the Ocean Cleanup Project, which have started to remove plastic from the sea.

Right, that's it for today's lesson.

Fantastic job, and I'll see you next time.

Bye.