Band 8 model answer

The accumulation of plastic waste in the world's oceans represents one of the gravest environmental crises of the modern era. Understanding its origins is essential before workable remedies can be identified.

The problem stems from several interconnected causes. Single-use plastic items, bags, bottles and food packaging, are produced at enormous scale because they are cheap to manufacture, yet they are rarely collected after use. In low- and middle-income countries, inadequate waste-management infrastructure means that plastic discarded on land is carried by rivers into coastal waters before it can be intercepted. Compounding this, microplastics shed by synthetic textiles during washing enter waterways directly through sewage systems, making the contamination difficult to trace or halt.

The consequences for marine life are severe. Seabirds, turtles and cetaceans ingest floating debris, mistaking it for prey, and often suffer intestinal blockages that prove fatal. Coral reef ecosystems are smothered by drifting sheets of film plastic, reducing the biodiversity that sustains coastal fisheries.

Governments possess several effective levers. The most immediate is a legislative ban on the most problematic single-use items, a step already taken in the European Union with measurable success in reducing certain plastic categories in coastal surveys. Alongside prohibition, extended producer responsibility schemes, which make manufacturers financially liable for end-of-life collection, create a market incentive to design products that are genuinely recyclable. Investment in waste-collection infrastructure in rapidly urbanising nations, potentially funded through international climate finance mechanisms, would address the source problem where it is most acute. Finally, research subsidies for affordable biodegradable materials would reduce dependence on conventional polymers over the longer term.

In conclusion, tackling plastic pollution in the oceans requires simultaneous action on production, consumption and disposal, coordinated across national boundaries.