Ocean Plastics

Arctic - Oceans - How Did My Water Bottle End Up in the Arctic?

Description: This group activity is inspired by an Arctic researcher who studies the distribution and toxicity of marine plastics, now found in oceans around the world. It connects sources of local littering to widespread plastic pollution carried to the Arctic through studying how materials from local watersheds enter into global ocean circulation, causing damage to vital ecosystems along the way.

Purpose: The purpose of this lesson is to find personal meaning to plastic pollution by collecting samples from our local waterways and analysing them. Later we will connect this activity to polar researchers sampling sediment and finding plastic in the polar ocean in Svalbard, Norway.

Authors: Regina Brinker ([email protected]) Neelu Singh ([email protected]), Katie Lodes, Anne Schoeffler, Valeria Tacca.

Date: February 2023

Educational Resources developed by PEI are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. Please give credit to Polar Educators International when using resources.

Dr. Neelu Singh in the Arctic
Dr. Neelu Singh in the Arctic

Connect

I live in Longyearbyen, the only major settlement on the remote Arctic island of Svalbard, Norway, where I investigate marine Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) in the polar ocean. My research team travels by ship to collect sediment samples from the ocean,  and I analyse the plastics we find to understand where they come from and the impact they have on living creatures and the environment.Read More

Neelu’s story: From India to the land of the midnight sun

I live in Longyearbyen, the only major settlement on the remote Arctic island of Svalbard, Norway, where I investigate marine Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) in the polar ocean. My research team travels by ship to collect sediment samples from the ocean,  and I analyse the plastics we find to understand where they come from and the impact they have on living creatures and the environment.Read More

Neelu’s story: From India to the land of the midnight sun

Stimulate dialogue and discussion by

  • Reading Neelu’s story
  • Using the discussion prompts introduced throughout the learning activity to generate dialogue
  • Choosing one of the resources in the “Additional Resources” section of this resource as a stimulus for discussion about plastic in the Arctic.

Examples

With community groups
Discuss key points from the scientific paperPlastic Pollution in the Arctic’ (2022)

Tip: Start by reading the end “Summary and future perspectives” together. Divide into smaller groups to consider the different sections of this Environmental Science paper.

With children ages 10+
Watch the animation in A Message in a Bottle From the North Pole – How Plastic Pollutes the Arctic Ocean as a stimulus for discussion.

The resources and activities will help everyone understand how plastic pollution in your own homeland can travel through creeks and rivers and end up in the Arctic ocean as far away as the island of Svalbard, and why we need polar research to understand what kind of problems this can create for people, wildlife and the global climate.

Young people assessing water quality
Young people assessing water quality

Learn

The purpose of this lesson is to find personal meaning to plastic pollution by collecting samples from our local waterways and analysing them. Later we will connect this activity to polar researchers sampling sediment and finding plastic in the polar ocean in Svalbard, Norway.

Work gloves for each person  
Buckets (1 bucket per team)
Trash grabber (1 per team)
Clipboards (1 per team)
Pencils (1 per team)
Data sheets  (1 per team)
Large tarpaulin
Recycling bags to use to dispose of collected items
Hand sanitizer
First aid kit
Map of area where river is based

Tip: Using hard-wearing reusable work gloves reduces plastic waste.

Before the field trip:

  • Work out which local area is riparian, that is, situated near a waterway, that you will go to in order to collect litter.
  • Visit the area, assess the risks and obtain any required permissions.
  • Create a simple map of the area and zones for litter collection and sorting.
  • From the number of participants, work out how many people will be in each team and how many teams there will be.
  • Arrange for adult helpers to work with younger children. 
  • Write a set of activity guidelines – e.g. Work with a partner or stick with your team. Wear gloves. Work only in designated areas. Stay out of the water. Do not pick up anything that is potentially harmful, including needles, containers of liquids, animal carcasses,  or anything you are uncomfortable retrieving. Children should ask an adult for help if they are unsure.
  • Sort and organise the materials  needed (pencils, clipboards, gloves and buckets) for each team.
  • Think through disposal of litter after the activity – arrange for a pick-up with the appropriate agency, if needed.

Tip: Check there is shelter nearby and a strong phone signal.

Tip: Choose an area for sorting and recording samples that is visible and easily accessible. 

Tip: There are five parts to this activity, which could be run as a one-day activity, split into a field trip and positive action plan, or separated and developed across several different days. 

Before the field trip

Prepare an introduction to the flow of plastics from local environments to the Ocean. Participants should be given background information about the ubiquitous presence of plastics in ecosystems, including places like Svalbard in the Arctic. Participants should also be aware of the connection between plastic litter, especially litter along riparian areas and waterways, and the presence of plastic in oceans.   

Part 1 – Data collection in the field

  • When everyone has arrived, set out the tarpaulin to create a ‘sample sorting area’.
  • Introduce the activity.
  • Review safety guidelines with all participants. 
    Assemble participants into teams and distribute a simple map – assign a location for each team to work in.
  • Explain how to collect and record samples e.g. at the end of the collecting activity, participants should have recorded everything they found on the data sheet and total each type of item collected.
  • Give a time limit, and instructions to return to the tarp with their bucket full to conduct their analysis.
  • Hand out materials to one team at a time, and suggest each member should have a role; bucket holder, trash grabber, gloved assistant to pick up litter, clipboard and recording data. Learners may switch jobs during the activity.
  • When the time is up, call everyone back to the tarpaulin to finish their sorting and data recording.

Tip: Ask teams to repeat the instructions before sending them off to start collecting.

Tip: Distribute materials just before the activity is about to start, to minimize distractions for participants. 

Part 2 – Data analysis, discussion, proposals

  • Share the top five types of items collected by each team and the total number of items found in each of these five categories.
  • Bring this data together for the whole group to see. An example of how the data may be recorded can be found here
  • Discuss the findings with the participants. 

Part 3 – Data review

  • Have the group recap the most common items they have collected.
  • Ask the group to discuss what the possible sources of these plastic waste items are – what were they used for, where did they come from and why did they end up as litter here? (Carelessness, lack of trash or recycling containers?)
  • Introduce the term ‘single use’ and ask the group to suggest alternatives to using these items only once. (Select reusable bottles or food containers instead of single-use items.) How could things be different?
  • Discuss whether there is a pattern to where the litter was found? What could be done to reduce the litter? Are there specific groups that should be targeted for education e.g. A soccer team that practises on a field where plastic bottles are found. How can we raise awareness of the problem?

Part 4 – Connecting to the Arctic 

How does plastic move through the watershed and into oceans? 

  • Recap where the most common items collected came from and ask the groups to discuss how they moved from their original location to where they were found. Then ask the groups to discuss what they think might have happened to the plastic waste if they hadn’t collected it.
  • Use diagrams to explain different ways that plastics can move through the watershed and into oceans, and how the global ocean currents can act like a conveyor belt carrying sediment great distances.
  • Distribute maps of the local area and ask teams to work together to identify the primary features of their watershed, including creeks and rivers.
  • Next ask if the teams can identify how the local watershed connects to an ocean.
  • Using the diagram from page 57 of the Polar Resource Book, students should identify the ocean current route closest to their watershed.
  • Finally, students should trace the route that their collected items could move through their local watershed,  enter the ocean, and be carried on currents to the Arctic.
  • Use the written work and creative outputs from Part 5: Taking Positive Action as forms of school assessment or for evaluation and impact.
  • When conducting a cleanup activity in a riparian area, participants could also conduct water quality assessments.
  • This activity can be adapted for different settings.
Spoils of a riparian litter pick and analysis
Riparian litter pick & analysis

Act

Action Initiatives

  • Create a group action plan to raise awareness and reduce plastic litter. 
    • Define a goal, and some steps for how to reach that goal.
    • Include the production of written and video reports for the school or community newsletter or build a social media campaign.
    • Create a schedule leading to a launch of action initiatives, and some assessment dates to analyze the results.
  • Think how you might measure a change resulting from a community action campaign.
    • Define what might change:- The weight of the litter bins before and after the action? Fewer empty plastic water bottles collected in the school playground?
    • Consider how the group should communicate results to decision-making agencies and request support.
  • Extend your action plan by
    • Repeating this activity after at least one month. Was less litter found? If so, communicate the results!
    • Devising a way to repeat the activity collecting, compiling and analyzing data annually e.g. create a toolkit and guidelines for your community. Are fewer plastics being used? Is less litter being found? 

Follow-up:  

The group may work with local agencies to plan and participate in a community-wide litter clean-up event. International Coastal Cleanup Day is held annually on the third Saturday of September. Events may be held along any watershed feature. World Ocean Day takes place every June 8th.

Action Initiatives

  • Create a group action plan to raise awareness and reduce plastic litter. 
    • Define a goal, and some steps for how to reach that goal.
    • Include the production of written and video reports for the school or community newsletter or build a social media campaign.
    • Create a schedule leading to a launch of action initiatives, and some assessment dates to analyze the results.
  • Think how you might measure a change resulting from a community action campaign.
    • Define what might change:- The weight of the litter bins before and after the action? Fewer empty plastic water bottles collected in the school playground?
    • Consider how the group should communicate results to decision-making agencies and request support.
  • Extend your action plan by
    • Repeating this activity after at least one month. Was less litter found? If so, communicate the results!
    • Devising a way to repeat the activity collecting, compiling and analyzing data annually e.g. create a toolkit and guidelines for your community. Are fewer plastics being used? Is less litter being found? 

Follow-up:  

The group may work with local agencies to plan and participate in a community-wide litter clean-up event. International Coastal Cleanup Day is held annually on the third Saturday of September. Events may be held along any watershed feature. World Ocean Day takes place every June 8th.

Participants can 

  • Write a creative description of how a discarded plastic bottle travels from the local watershed to an ocean and through the oceans ending up in the Arctic – from a water bottle’s point of view.
  • Create and display a poster using graphics to convey the journey a piece of plastic can take from your home to the Arctic and suggest ways to reduce the use of plastic and reduce the prevalence of litter. 
  • Develop songs, raps, musical compositions, videos or performances based on the project findings and story of the water bottle to encourage others not to drop litter.

Develop your skills in Social Geography and political studies by working with local agencies to plan and participate in a community-wide litter clean-up event.

Study Polar Science and the Cryosphere at the NATIONAL CENTRE FOR POLAR AND OCEAN RESEARCH, Ministry of Earth Sciences, Government of India

Conduct Polar Research at the Norwegian Polar Institute on the island of Svalbard

Additional Resources

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Plastic in a bottle Arctic Council

The goal is to see how plastic potentially makes its way from the North Sea and the Baltic Sea into Arctic waters – and to raise awareness about the issue of marine plastic pollution.

Debris Tracker is designed to help citizen scientists like you make a difference by contributing data on plastic pollution in your community.” (Directions for use are included on the homepage).

Litterati ”Empowering people to create a cleaner planet by turning information into actionable insight”. 

Coastal Cleanup “Join a global movement to keep beaches, waterways and the ocean trash free. Head out to your favourite beach and use the app to easily record each item of trash you collect.”

Microplastics in the realm of Svalbard: current knowledge and future perspectives, Neelu Singh et al (2020) SESS Report 2020 – The State of Environmental Science in Svalbard

Our Planet is Choking on Plastic “While plastic has many valuable uses, we have become addicted to single-use plastic products – with severe environmental, social, economic and health consequences”  United Nations Environment Programme 

A Guide to Plastics in the Ocean  NOAA (US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration)  

Plastic Pollution in the Arctic  Bergmann, M., Collard, F., Fabres, J. et al. (2022)  Nat Rev Earth Environ 3, pp.323–337.  

Microplastics National Geographic 

Discovery and quantification of plastic particle pollution in human blood Heather A. Leslie, et al. (2022) Environment International, Vol. 163 p.107400 (Plastics and Human Health).

A Message in a Bottle From the North Pole – How Plastic Pollutes the Arctic Ocean Frontiers for Young Minds

Follow the Friendly Floatees National Geographic – Ocean Circulation Lesson  

Moby-Duck: When 28,800 Bath Toys Are Lost At Sea  National Public Radio USA, 32 minute podcast story 

Follow a plastic bottle from Chengdu, China to a remote island in the Pacific Ocean An online, interactive resource follows a plastic bottle from Chengdu, China to a remote island in the Pacific Ocean.  

Where Are Those Microplastics Coming From and Going? Polar Data Stories – The Polar Literacy Project, Formerly Polar Interdisciplinary Coordinated Education (Polar-ICE). It is divided into 8 lessons, each lesson features a cool dataset, and guides students towards making observations and analyzing the data to discover what’s happening in the Polar oceans.

End Plastic Pollution “The new UNEA Resolution, ‘End Plastic Pollution: Towards a legally binding instrument’, establishes an Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee that will develop the specific content of the new plastic pollution treaty with the aim of completing its work by the end of 2024” The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN)