Courtney Hill

Documentary Critique
September 28, 2019
A Plastic Ocean

The documentary A Plastic Ocean was produced by Craig Leeson in 2016. The
documentary follows Craig, a journalist and filmmaker, and Tanya Streeter, a champion free
diver, traveling around the globe and talking with scientists to find the effects that plastic has in
the worlds’ oceans (Leeson). Craig and Tanya interview multiple scientists around the world to
see how plastic in the oceans are affecting the marine life and human life. The purpose of the
documentary was to find if plastic is bad for the environment, and if it is, in what ways. Plastic
production has exponentially increased in the past several decades and it will cause detrimental
changes to the world if nothing is done to curb plastic usage and production on a global level
(Leeson).
Craig Leeson started out wanting to film blue whales in the Indian Ocean, but when he
was there, he noticed an abundance of various plastic floating in the water. While giving a Ted
Talk in Austin, Texas, Tanya Streeter explains that in the past decade, more plastic has been
produced than in the entire century before that (Streeter). Half of plastic is considered to be
disposable, but it is made from almost indestructible material so it cannot be disposable
(Streeter). In the United States, 63 billion gallons of oil are used every year to make plastic water
bottles, and more than 90% of them are used just once (Streeter). Every year, the US throws
away 38 billion bottles, which is the equivalent to two million tons of plastic that go into landfills
(Streeter). In 2016, one person would use approximately 300 pounds of single-use plastic. The
documentary describes a Bryde’s whale that died of malnutrition; when it was necropsied, they
found six square meters of plastic sheeting inside it (Leeson). Marine life frequently confuse
plastic bags and micro plastics with other animals. Sea turtles eat jellyfish and plastic grocery
bags resemble jellyfish. The plastic gets stuck in the animal’s stomach and they cannot eat and
either die of malnutrition or the toxic chemicals the plastic releases once inside the animal. These
few examples in the film points to the purpose of the film; to show that plastic materials don’t
just “go away”, they end up in the oceans and it is destroying habitats.
Throughout the film, Tanya and Craig discuss with several scientists exactly how plastic
affects the environment. Phthalate is one of the main toxic chemicals found in plastic. Dr.
Cristina Fossi, an ecologist and ecotoxicologist from the University of Siena, studied the blubber
of dolphins in the Mediterranean and found detectable levels of phthalate (Leeson). Dolphins
consume some levels of plastic, but the main cause for this is the smaller fish that dolphins eat
directly consume micro plastic and the toxic chemical embeds itself in the fat and muscle of the
fish and is then passed on to the dolphin. Humans eat fish so because the chemicals are found in
the dolphin’s food chain, it is inferred that the same toxic chemicals from plastic are in a human’s
food chain (Leeson). Approximately eight million tons of plastic is dumped in the ocean each
year with 70% of that sinking to the ocean floor where it will not break up and degrade, rather
just stay on the ocean floor, presumably forever (Leeson). The Mediterranean is one of the most
polluted bodies of water on the planet and scientists show a one-to-two ratio of plastic to
plankton. The North Atlantic is reported to have approximately 3,440 metric tons of micro plastic
(Leeson). Micro plastic is created from whole items floating in the ocean coming in contact with
constant UV sunlight, waves, and salt from the ocean. The documentary debunks the “garbage
island” that is supposedly floating in the Pacific Ocean, saying while that does not exist, plastic
smog is a real and detrimental problem. The smog is created of micro plastics and it releases the
toxins into the ocean. Worldwide, there is roughly five trillion micro plastics floating in the
ocean (Leeson).
A scientist from University of North Carolina Wilmington goes on to explain what a
nurdle is. It is a small pellet that serves as a raw material for plastic manufacturing (Leeson). In
China, several shipping containers filled with bags of nurdles were spilled over the beaches and
oceans. Dr. Jennifer Lavers, a marine scientist, discussed how detrimental micro plastics and
nurdles are to sea birds (Leeson). She has spent her life studying sea birds, she said in the
documentary, the record for micro plastics found in a 90-day old chick was 276 pieces of plastic.
90% of all sea birds have swallowed plastic at some point in their lives (Leeson). By the year
2025, ten times more plastic is estimated to be dumped in our oceans each year, killing thousands
of more animals (Leeson).
Plastic is not only detrimental to animals and the ocean, but to humans as well. In Manila,
Philippines resides Smokey Mountain 1 and 2. Smokey Mountain 1 operated for nearly 40 years
before being shut down in 1995. It is a nearly two million metric ton waste dump, and now the
land contains so much methane from the plastic dumped there that when it reaches a certain
temperature, it catches fire and the smoke wafts over the city of Manila (Leeson). Research has
shown that pulmonary diseases like tuberculosis and emphysema are extremely common in this
area, most likely due to the plastic smoke the residents are exposed to regularly (Leeson).
Smokey Mountain 2 was opened in 1998 and is now home to over 2,000 families. It covers an
area of about 123.5 acres of land and roughly 1,500 tons of garbage is brought here daily. While
it may seem helpless, it is not (Leeson). A local non-profit in Manila has made sure of that. The
non-profit uses a combination of bioremediation and phytoremediation to expel the toxins from
the soil and water. Some rivers and streams in Manila are healthy enough to have fish living in
them again (Leeson). Other projects around the world are helping curb the globe’s plastic use.
The Plastic Bank in Haiti is an example. In exchange for plastic, the company gives solar-
powered cell phones, cook stoves, and money. The company then recycles the plastic to be used
again (Leeson). The US Navy has come up with a green solution to waste as well. Pyrogenesis is
the process of using a plasma beam that changes the molecular structure of the waste to revert
back to its basic elements. There is no danger to the environment and it runs off its own energy
(Leeson). The documentary suggests that if this could be made to fit inside a shipping container,
it could transported to cities and countries that have huge issues with plastic waste buildup and it
could increase their quality of life and save the oceans (Leeson).
The documentary A Plastic Ocean explains exactly how plastic and micro plastic is
affecting the oceans and the planet. Toxic chemicals are used to make plastic durable and
flexible, but it comes at a cost to the environment and people’s health. Marine life is dying every
day because of the amount of plastic humans are putting in to the oceans. Without a healthy
ocean, humanity cannot survive. The film ends on a hopeful note, there is an opportunity to save
the oceans, but only if a person stands up to say no to single-use plastic, pressure governments to
make companies responsible for the disposal of plastic responsibly, and opt for more eco-friendly
options like paper, steel, or glass. It is possible to fix the plastic epidemic, but only if people
stand up to do it. 

 Citations

Leeson, Craig, director. A Plastic Ocean. 2016, plasticoceans.org.

Streeter, Tanya. “The Deepest Dive Ever.” TEDx, Feb. 2012, www.youtube.com/watch?

v=odIXWv1m2a8.