This blog was written by Hannah De Frond. Hannah works with Ocean Conservancy and the University of Toronto Trash Team to manage the International Trash Trap Network (ITTN), a global network of local groups using trash traps to increase cleanup efforts, engage communities and inform upstream solutions.
The use of single-use plastics has grown significantly over the last few decades. Many of the plastics thrown away daily—such as plastic packaging, takeout cups, container lids, plastic bottles and grocery bags—are used just once before they are discarded.
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Incredibly, 80% of global marine litter items are made of plastics, primarily food and beverage items such as plastic bottles, bottle caps and lids. These items are also among the top 10 items most commonly collected by Ocean Conservancy’s International Coastal Cleanup® (ICC) volunteers around the world. So, what is it about plastic bottles, caps and lids that makes them so likely to enter the environment, and what can we do to prevent them from polluting our ocean?
Plastic bottles
Plastic bottles are the third most common type of plastic pollution collected throughout the nearly 40-year history of the ICC. From 1986-2023, ICC volunteers removed a staggering 24.3 million plastic bottles from coastlines around the world.
Ocean Conservancy estimates that 127 billion plastic bottles are used in the United States each year; due to their widespread use, they have become a major contributor to environmental pollution. Whole plastic bottles have even been found in the stomachs of an albatross and a sperm whale! As with all plastics, in the environment plastic bottles break up into microplastics that pose a threat to wildlife and potentially to human health as well. Most plastic bottles are made of a type of plastic called polyethylene terephthalate (PET). Though this material on its own is widely recyclable, many PET bottle designs use colored plastics and labels that can prevent them from being sorted or recycled correctly.
How can we tackle plastic bottle pollution?
Refillable beverage containers help reduce our reliance on single-use plastic bottles when we use them to transport tap water, fountain sodas, teas or other beverages. This alleviates the need for single-use beverage bottles each time a refillable container is used and eliminates the possibility that the plastic bottle might go to landfill or be leaked into the environment as pollution.
Policies such as extended producer responsibility (making producers responsible for the waste generated by the use of their plastic products) and deposit-return systems (also known as “bottle bills”) can encourage the redesign and reuse of plastic bottles, while holding the producers of plastic bottles accountable to help pay for the full lifecycle of their materials.
Plastic bottle caps
Along with plastic bottles come plastic bottle caps. When bottle caps are thrown into recycling bins separately from bottles, they are too small to be properly sorted at recycling facilities and instead often end up getting sent to landfill. Bottle caps that end up in the environment can have a considerable impact on marine life. Ocean Conservancy has identified plastic bottle caps as one of the top five deadliest forms of marine pollutionto large species such as seabirds, sea turtles and marine mammals, largely due to the harms of ingesting them. Plastic bottle caps can also generate microplastics when they degrade in the environment, but also from the twisting action used to remove a cap from its plastic ring. When bottles are repeatedly opened and closed from drinking, it potentially increases human exposure to microplastics.
How can we tackle plastic bottle cap pollution?
As with plastic bottles, switching to reusable and refillable beverage containers will reduce the amount of plastic bottle caps that are used and ultimately thrown away. When single-use plastic bottles and caps are used, to ensure that both the plastic bottles and caps get recycled the caps must be screwed back on before they are disposed of for recycling. Policy measures can encourage this behaviour: For example, in Europe it is now legally required for all caps on plastic bottles to be attached or tethered to the bottles. Drinking from bottles with the caps still attached has required some getting used to for consumers, but this subtle change is significantly improving bottle cap recyclability.
Plastic lids
Plastic lids like the ones that come with a cup of coffee, on a fountain beverage or on top of a yogurt container are some of the most commonly found single-use plastic items found on global beaches and waterways. Because of their size, plastic lids are too small or narrow for recycling sorting machines to manage. This means that instead, plastic lids often end up in landfills or burned in incinerators. In fact, plastic lids are the ninth most common type of plastic pollution collected in the history of Ocean Conservancy’s ICC. From 1986-2023, ICC volunteers have encountered and cleaned up more than 7.3 million plastic lids around the world. The United States alone uses more than 60 billion single-use plastic lids each year. That is enough for every adult in the United States to have a beverage with a plastic lid every day for eight straight months each year.
How can we tackle plastic lid pollution?
As with plastic bottles, the need for many plastic lids can be eliminated through investments in reuse or encouraging behavior changes to skip the lid or dispose of them properly. The most effective solution for lids is to transition to reusable cups and lids. Replacing one disposable coffee cup and lid every day for a year with a reusable mug would result in about 15 pounds of plastic waste prevented per person. Just imagine: If 100 million people did this—just under half of all adults in the United States—it would result in roughly 1.5 billion pounds of plastic debris prevented each year.
To reduce the impacts of plastic bottles, bottle caps, lids and other single-use plastics on our ocean we need to handle them better on land. We need to reduce the sheer volume of plastics produced and used, while holding plastic producers responsible for the harmful waste they have generated and continue to pump into the environment. Taking individual action and supporting local and national policies for the reduction, reuse, recycling and redesign of single-use plastic food and beverage items can help to keep our ocean plastic free.
To learn more about the most common types of plastic pollution entering our ocean and what you can do to help, check out our reports on charting a course to plastic-free beaches.
The post Plastic Bottles & Lids Among Top 10 Most Commonly Found Items at Cleanups appeared first on Ocean Conservancy.
Plastic Bottles & Lids Among Top 10 Most Commonly Found Items at Cleanups
Welcome to the M219 ocean blog!
Here, we will share updates and stories about the scientific work taking place during this research expedition. We also hope to offer a glimpse into daily life and work at sea.
For many members of the scientific party, this is their first time aboard METEOR. It will also be their last, as METEOR is embarking on its final voyage before retiring from service as a German research vessel after more than 40 years at sea. Over the course of its distinguished career, METEOR has travelled more than 1.7 million nautical miles, which is equivalent to more than 8 times the distance between the Earth and the Moon. Throughout those decades the vessel has supported countless scientific discoveries and generations of marine scientists. We are very grateful and honored to be part of the final chapter of this remarkable ship’s history and to accompany her on the last few thousand miles of her legendary journey.
The scientific program of this cruise focuses on long-term observations of ocean currents off the coast of Brazil and at the equator, as well as interdisciplinary measurements near the Cape Verde Islands. At all these sites, GEOMAR has maintained observational programs for the past 10 to 20 years. Over the next four weeks, we will introduce these regions and the measurements carried out there in more detail. But first, let’s look at what happened in Brazil before the cruise began.
On Thursday, May 28, many of the scientists and students left the hotel early in the morning to attend a seminar at the Universidade Federal de Pernambuco (UFPE), celebrating the long-standing scientific collaboration between Brazil and Germany.
The seminar was opened by Prof. Dr. Marius Müller, a former student at GEOMAR and now a professor for biological oceanography at UFPE. These meetings have become a valued tradition, having been organized for more than 20 years by now. This year marked the 9th edition of the seminar since its inception over 20 years ago.
A total of 8 scientists and students from Brazil, Germany, and the U.S. presented their research on various aspects of the tropical Atlantic Ocean. We would like to thank Marius Müller, Doris Veleda and all the Brazilian scientists and students who helped organize the seminar and provided such a warm welcome. We greatly enjoyed the exchange of ideas and look forward to celebrating the 10th seminar in the years to come.
After the seminar we returned to the hotel, but there was little time to rest. Later that same day, the captain of METEOR and the German Consul General in Recife hosted a reception aboard METEOR in the Port of Recife.
The event brought together members of the scientific party, representatives of local institutions, and guests from the Brazilian and German scientific communities. It provided an excellent opportunity to celebrate the long-standing partnership between the two countries.
On Friday, May 29, the scientific party finally boarded METEOR. There was little time to settle into our cabins and workspaces, as preparations for departure were already in full swing. We left the Port of Recife as soon as possible and at around 1pm METEOR set sail and began the final voyage of her remarkable career.
About 12 hours after leaving port, we arrived at our first station. Thanks to the dedicated efforts of technical and scientific teams, all instruments had been installed and prepared in time for the start of operations. This station marked the beginning of our observational program off the coast of Brazil, which includes the deployment and recovery of tall moorings as well as CTD measurements. An intensive first week lies ahead, with a demanding schedule of measurements and mooring operations. After months of planning and preparation, everyone is excited to finally begin the scientific work and make the most of the final weeks aboard METEOR.
There are more than 2,000 species of gobies (Gobiidae) known to science today, making them the largest family of fish in the ocean. But these small creatures are far more complex and essential to marine ecosystems than first meets the eye. Found all around the world in brackish, fresh and salt water in tropical and subtropical regions, they are an astonishingly diverse group of fish with several curious characteristics that set them apart.
Most gobies are quite small and don’t usually measure more than six inches long. Measuring just about eight millimeters long, the dwarf pygmy goby (Trimmatom nanus) is not only the tiniest goby known to science but also one of the smallest of all fish species in the world.
Primarily bottom-dwellers, gobies are known to be excellent foragers and have evolved expert burrowing behaviors over time. As they sift around looking for food like copepods, seaworms and tiny crustaceans, their movement helps to aerate sediment and keep algae in check. Some are even known to be “cleaner fish,” snacking on parasites they remove off larger creatures. It’s like a spa day for the animal being cleaned and a choose-your-own-adventure buffet for the gobies. Studies also show that cleaner goby activity is largely tied to the microbial health of coral reefs, showcasing that even the tiniest of species are essential to functioning marine ecosystems.
Gobies have some unique aspects to their anatomy, too. First, their fused pelvic fins are designed to help them form a strong suction cup to perch on coral reefs, rocks and other ocean terrain amidst turbulent currents. Some freshwater species are even known to use this suction to climb waterfalls. It may come as no surprise then that gobies are cousins to mudskippers, animals known to “walk” through mud. There are more species-specific features that set certain gobies apart. From the use of bioluminescence to symbiotic relationships with shrimp, the adaptations within the goby family are truly wide-ranging. Some species have even been found to use marine terrain memorization to navigate back to the tide pools where they were born. Isn’t nature mind-blowing sometimes?
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Gobies have equally complex and varied behaviors. Male gobies are infamous for being territorial protectors of their nests. Many larger males are known as “guarders;” these hopeful fish make careful nests to attract a mate, and once fertilization occurs, guarders will remain diligently near the nests to keep eggs safe. However, there’s another type of male goby that complicates this dynamic. These other males are known as “sneaker gobies” and are called that for one reason: They’re sneaky! If guarder gobies aren’t careful, sneakers can creep into the nest, fertilize some of the eggs and quickly escape. As if on an underwater episode of Maury, guarder males who aren’t careful could end up unknowingly babysitting little gobies that aren’t their actual offspring.
Gobies serve as indicators of ecological health and are essential to keeping delicate food webs in check. Unfortunately, many changes in our ocean threaten their ability to survive and thrive today. Coral bleaching and degradation endanger the health of one of their key habitats, and a combination of warming waters and coastal development can make it difficult for both juvenile and adult gobies to survive and thrive.
Healthy gobies mean a healthy ocean. Their essential role in marine ecosystems demonstrates that even the tiniest creatures play a major role in helping hold together the beautiful yet fragile habitats that make up our beloved ocean. Visit Ocean Conservancy’s Action Center and join the movement to protect our blue planet today and for years to come—from the tiniest goby to the largest whales, our ocean is counting on us.
The post All About Gobies appeared first on Ocean Conservancy.
Recently, you may have heard about something called “El Niño.” But what exactly is El Niño and its sibling “La Niña”? Why do these terms seem to emerge from the depths of the scientific community and drop into popular vocabulary every few years? And how are they connected to extreme weather and our ocean?
What Are El Niño and La Niña?
El Niño and La Niña are part of a natural climate pattern in the tropical Pacific called the El Niño-Southern Oscillation, or ENSO. These two phases are different sides of the same coin, creating equally extreme shifts in temperature and air pressure.
El Niño occurs when surface water in the equatorial Pacific becomes warmer than average and easterly winds weaken. La Niña is the opposite: cooler-than-normal sea surface temperatures and stronger easterly winds. ENSO cycles can last up to seven years. El Niño and La Niña significantly impact weather patterns in all corners of the globe, often leading to more extreme weather, storm frequency and intensity.
A strong El Niño can cause flooding in some regions and drought, heat waves and wildfires in others. It often causes crop losses, coral bleaching and marine die-offs due to unusually warm ocean temperatures. El Niño tends to suppress Atlantic hurricane activity, though it increases the risk of heavy precipitation and harm to fisheries elsewhere. In the Northern Hemisphere, El Niño typically builds between March and June, peaks in December, and weakens by February.
La Niña, by contrast, often fuels an active Atlantic hurricane season and increases tornado frequency across the southern United States. Like El Niño, it builds in spring and peaks around December.
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Predicting ENSO
In 1923, the physicist Sir Gilbert Walker discovered the “Southern Oscillation,” or large-scale changes in sea level pressure across the tropical Pacific. However, it wasn’t until the late 1960s that the metorologist Jacob Bjerknes found that the changes in the ocean and the atmosphere were connected, and the hybrid term “ENSO” was born. In 1974, researchers at Oregon State University attempted to predict ENSO for the first time.
Modeling has greatly advanced since the early days. Today, scientists at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) issue regular predictions about ENSO, which are now more accurate than ever.
NOAA gives a one-in-four chance that an El Niño could reach “very strong” intensity later in 2026, qualifying it as a “super El Niño.” This threshold has been crossed only a handful of times in recorded history, each triggering droughts, floods and record temperatures across multiple continents. NOAA’s data and models deliver life-saving early warning forecasts, like that of the predicted super El Niño, which allow communities to better prepare for and respond to extreme weather events.
Take Action
Every American, regardless of where they live, depends on NOAA’s scientists and professionals, whose work spans from the ocean floor to the far reaches of space. Unfortunately, NOAA is under threat. The Trump administration has proposed billions of dollars in cuts to the agency, which could weaken weather forecasting, disrupt fisheries management and stall critical ocean research, putting American lives and global scientific leadership at risk.
Ocean Conservancy is committed to working with NOAA to keep the public informed on climate and ocean science. We all benefit from a healthier ocean, and investing in research is the most effective way to restore ocean health and reduce the impact of severe weather events caused by El Niño and La Niña. Our ocean is not partisan, and protecting it requires all hands on deck and all sides of the aisle. Now, it’s more important than ever to demand that members of Congress prioritize our ocean. Add your name now.
The post Do You Know the Difference Between El Niño and La Niña? appeared first on Ocean Conservancy.
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