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
Between all the scientific work, we celebrated Easter on board, although the weather had other plans for us. Due to rough conditions, we weren’t able to carry out any CTD casts.
Easter itself was spent in a mix of rest and small celebrations. Some of us enjoyed a long Easter breakfast with traditional Easter bread, while others took the opportunity to sleep in. In the evening, we gathered with both crew and scientists for a small celebration. The ship’s cook even organized a quiz, and those who answered correctly were rewarded with Easter chocolate.
The next day, the weather improved, and we began early with the recovery of K1, a 3,495-meter-long mooring in the middle of the Labrador Sea.
We joined the nautical officers on the bridge before sunrise to search for it. Fortunately, K1 has a floating buoy with a light, so we were able to spot it even in the dark. The actual recovery started at first light, and it began to snow while we were working.
Amid all the CTDs and mooring operations, there was also a personal highlight: my (Sarah’s) birthday. Although I’ve spent birthdays away from home before, this one felt especially unique, being so far out at sea, with only limited internet contact.
Normally, I work the 4-8 shift, but my incredibly kind shift team gave me the morning off. That meant I could sleep in and even find time to call family and friends back home. In the afternoon, I was surprised with my favourite cake, baked by Julia.
Our work continued with the mooring array at 53°N, which consists of seven moorings. So far, we have recovered five (K7, K8, K9, DSOW1 and DSOW2), and three of them have already been redeployed (K7, K8 and DSOW1,).
Deploying K7 turned out to be particularly tricky. On our first attempt, sea ice drifted toward us faster than expected, forcing us to recover nearly half of the mooring again. While the ship itself can handle drifting ice, deploying a mooring is much more delicate: a long cable with instruments and floats is released behind the ship before the anchor is dropped, allowing the system to sink into place.
Two days later, we tried again and this time, the deployment was successful.
Afterwards, we moved closer to the sea ice, which was a highlight for many of us. Seeing the ice up close and even spotting a seal swimming nearby, made the experience unforgettable.
Due to the continuing harsh weather, the decision was made to return to K1 and make use of an upcoming weather window for deployment the following day.
German:
Zwischen Stürmen und Wissenschaft: Ostern in der Labradorsee (04.04.26 – 13.04.26)
Zwischen all der wissenschaftlichen Arbeit haben wir Ostern an Bord gefeiert, auch wenn das Wetter andere Pläne für uns hatte. Aufgrund der rauen Bedingungen konnten wir keine CTD-Messungen durchführen (Messungen von Leitfähigkeit, Temperatur und Tiefe im Ozean).
Ostern selbst war eine Mischung aus Erholung und kleinen Feierlichkeiten. Einige von uns genossen ein ausgedehntes Osterfrühstück mit traditionellem Osterbrot, während andere die Gelegenheit nutzten, etwas länger zu schlafen. Am Abend kamen Crew und Wissenschaftler*innen zu einer kleinen Feier zusammen. Der Koch organisierte sogar ein Quiz, und wer die Fragen richtig beantwortete, wurde mit Oster-Schokolade belohnt.
Am nächsten Tag besserte sich das Wetter, und wir begannen früh mit der Bergung von K1, einer 3.495 Meter langen Verankerung mitten in der Labradorsee. (Eine Verankerung ist eine lange, am Meeresboden befestigter Draht, der mit Instrumenten ausgestattet ist, um über längere Zeit Ozeandaten zu messen.)
Noch vor Sonnenaufgang gingen wir mit den nautischen Offizieren auf die Brücke, um nach ihr Ausschau zu halten. Glücklicherweise verfügt K1 über eine schwimmende Boje mit Licht, sodass wir sie bereits im Dunkeln entdecken konnten. Die eigentliche Bergung begann bei Tagesanbruch und es begann sogar zu schneien.
Zwischen all den CTD-Einsätzen und Verankerungsarbeiten gab es auch ein persönliches Highlight: meinen (Sarahs) Geburtstag. Obwohl ich schon öfter Geburtstage fernab von zu Hause verbracht habe, war dieser besonders, so weit draußen auf dem Meer und mit nur eingeschränktem Internetkontakt.
Normalerweise arbeite ich in der 4-8 Uhr Schicht, aber mein unglaublich nettes Schichtteam hat mir den Morgendienst freigegeben. So konnte ich etwas länger schlafen und hatte sogar Zeit, mit Familie und Freunden zu Hause zu telefonieren. Am Nachmittag wurde ich dann noch mit meinem Lieblingskuchen überrascht, den Julia für mich gebacken hat.
Unsere Arbeit ging weiter mit dem Verankerungs-Array bei 53°, das aus sieben Verankerungen besteht. Bisher haben wir fünf geborgen (DSOW1, DSOW2, K7, K8 und K9), von denen drei bereits wieder ausgebracht wurden (DSOW1, K7 und K8).
Das Ausbringen von K7 erwies sich als besonders schwierig. Beim ersten Versuch trieb das Meereis schneller auf uns zu als erwartet, sodass wir fast die Hälfte der Verankerung wieder einholen mussten. Obwohl das Schiff selbst gut durch treibendes Eis navigieren kann, ist das Ausbringen einer Verankerung deutlich anspruchsvoller: Dabei wird ein langer Draht mit Messinstrumenten und Auftriebskörpern hinter dem Schiff ausgesetzt, bevor am Ende der Anker gelöst wird und das gesamte System absinkt.
Zwei Tage später versuchten wir es erneut, diesmal mit Erfolg.
Anschließend fuhren wir näher an das Meereis heran, was für viele von uns ein besonderes Highlight war. Das Eis aus nächster Nähe zu sehen und sogar eine Robbe in der Nähe schwimmen zu beobachten, machte das Erlebnis unvergesslich.
Aufgrund der weiterhin rauen Wetterbedingungen wurde schließlich entschieden, zu K1 zurückzukehren, um ein bevorstehendes Wetterfenster für die Ausbringung am nächsten Tag zu nutzen.
Between Storms and Science: Easter in the Labrador Sea (04.04.26–13.04.26)
Ocean Acidification
Humans Just Flew Around the Moon This Week. But Would Babies Born There Ever Truly Feel Gravity? Ask Jellyfish Babies.
This week, NASA’s Artemis II crew made history by flying around the Moon and returning safely to Earth, the first human journey to the Moon’s vicinity in more than 50 years. It was a stunning reminder that humanity is no longer just dreaming about living beyond Earth. We are actively rehearsing for it.
And that leads to a much stranger, deeper question: even if one day we build skyscrapers on the Moon, raise families there, and turn space into a place to live, will babies born away from Earth develop a normal sense of gravity? Or will their bodies learn the universe differently?
To explore that question, NASA once turned to an unexpected stand-in for human babies: jellyfish babies. On the STS-40 mission, scientists sent thousands of tiny jellyfish polyps into space because jellyfish, like humans, rely on gravity-sensing structures to orient themselves. The experiment asked a simple but profound question: if a living body develops in microgravity, will it still know how to handle gravity later?
The answer was both fascinating and unsettling. The jellyfish developed in space in large numbers, but once back under Earth’s gravity, the ones that had developed in microgravity showed far more pulsing abnormalities than the Earth-grown controls. In other words, their bodies formed, but their sense of balance did not seem to work quite the same way.
That is why this old jellyfish experiment still matters today. Before we imagine lunar cities, schools, nurseries, and generations born off-world, we need to ask not only whether humans can survive in space, but whether developing there changes how the body understands something as basic as up, down, and movement. Jellyfish babies cannot tell us everything about human children, but they may have given us one of the first clues that life born beyond Earth might not come home unchanged.
Reference: https://nlsp.nasa.gov/view/lsdapub/lsda_experiment/0c10d660-6b12-573d-8c3b-e20e071aed3b
Image: GEOMAR, Sarah Uphoff
After a slight delay of the Maria S. Merian caused by late-arriving containers our research cruise MSM142 finally got underway. By last Tuesday (24.03.2026), the full scientific team had arrived in Nuuk, the capital of Greenland, and the ship reached port on Wednesday (25.03.2026) morning. That same day, scientists and technicians moved on board and immediately began preparations, assembling and testing our instruments. Although the mornings on Wednesday and Thursday were grey and overcast, the afternoons cleared up beautifully. This gave us valuable time to organize equipment on deck and store empty boxes back into the containers before departure.
Given the forecast of harsh conditions outside the fjord, we carried out the mandatory safety drill while still in harbour. This included practicing emergency procedures and boarding the lifeboat. After completing border control, we were finally ready to leave Nuuk. We set sail on March 27th, heading into the Labrador Sea to begin our mission. Even before starting scientific operations, we tested the setup for deploying our gliders without releasing them during the transit out of the fjord. Once we reached open waters, we were met by high waves the following morning. For some on board, this was their first experience under such rough sea conditions. Seasickness quickly became a challenge for a few, while scientific work had to be temporarily postponed due to the strong winds and sea conditions. Together with the crew, we discussed how best to adapt our measurement plans to the given weather conditions. On March 29th, we were finally able to begin our scientific program with the first CTD deployment. A CTD is an instrument used to measure conductivity, temperature, and depth, which are key parameters for understanding ocean structure.
During the following night, we continued with additional CTD stations and successfully recovered two moorings: DSOW 3 and DSOW 4, located south of Greenland. These moorings carry instruments at various depths that measure velocity, temperature, and salinity. DSOW 4 was redeployed on the same day, while DSOW 3 followed the next day. In addition, the bottles attached to the CTD’s rosette can be used to collect water samples from any desired depth. These samples can be used, for example, to determine the oxygen content, nutrient levels, and organic matter.
Both are part of the OSNAP array, a network of moorings spanning the subpolar North Atlantic. On these moorings are a few instruments, for example microcats which measure temperature, pressure and salinity.
We then conducted around 25 CTD stations spaced approximately 3 nautical miles apart across an Irminger ring identified from satellite data. This high-resolution sampling was necessary to capture the structure of an Irminger Ring, which had a radius of about 12 km wide.
The days leading up to April 2nd were marked by very rough weather conditions. Life on board became both challenging and, at times, unintentionally entertaining sliding chairs were not uncommon. During the night from April 1st to April 2nd, winds reached 11 Beaufort with gusts up to 65 knots, forcing us to pause our measurements. Fortunately, conditions improved by morning, allowing us to resume our work. As well as with the help of the crew we had to adapt to the harsh weather conditions to continue our scientific work. On the 3rd of April, we were able to deploy a few gliders and one float. An ocean glider is an autonomous underwater Vehicle, which you can steer remotely and send to different locations, while it is measuring oceanographic key parameters.
This research cruise focuses on understanding small-scale processes in the ocean and their connection to the spring bloom, an essential phase in marine ecosystem in subpolar regions. Despite the challenging start, we have already gathered valuable data and look forward to the weeks ahead in the Labrador Sea.
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