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  • Review Article
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Plastic pollution in the Arctic

Nature Reviews Earth & Environment volume 3, pages 323–337 (2022)Cite this article

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A Publisher Correction to this article was published on 06 May 2022

This article has been updated

Abstract

Plastic pollution is now pervasive in the Arctic, even in areas with no apparent human activity, such as the deep seafloor. In this Review, we describe the sources and impacts of Arctic plastic pollution, including plastic debris and microplastics, which have infiltrated terrestrial and aquatic systems, the cryosphere and the atmosphere. Although some pollution is from local sources — fisheries, landfills, wastewater and offshore industrial activity — distant regions are a substantial source, as plastic is carried from lower latitudes to the Arctic by ocean currents, atmospheric transport and rivers. Once in the Arctic, plastic pollution accumulates in certain areas and affects local ecosystems. Population-level information is sparse, but interactions such as entanglements and ingestion of marine debris have been recorded for mammals, seabirds, fish and invertebrates. Early evidence also suggests interactions between climate change and plastic pollution. Even if plastic emissions are halted today, fragmentation of legacy plastic will lead to an increasing microplastic burden in Arctic ecosystems, which are already under pressure from anthropogenic warming. Mitigation is urgently needed at both regional and international levels to decrease plastic production and utilization, achieve circularity and optimize solid waste management and wastewater treatment.

Key points

  • The widespread plastic pollution in the Arctic originates from both local and distant sources.

  • Concentrations of plastic in the Arctic vary widely, with greater accumulation in certain hotspots, but are generally similar to those of more densely populated regions.

  • Plastic has infiltrated all levels of the Arctic food web, including many endemic species, with largely unknown organismal impacts.

  • In the fast-changing Arctic, plastic pollution adds to the effects of climate change in terms of growing sources, transport processes, potential feedback loops and ecological consequences.

  • Mitigation of both local and distal plastic pollution is needed to prevent further ecosystem degradation.

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Fig. 1: Overview of the pathways of plastic pollutants into the Arctic Ocean from local and distant sources.
Fig. 2: The main pathways of pollution transport to the Arctic.
Fig. 3: Plastic pollution recorded in different Arctic ecosystem compartments.
Fig. 4: Interactions between marine debris and Arctic biota.
Fig. 5: Arctic food web and biotic interactions with plastic pollution.
Fig. 6: The interaction between climate change and plastic pollution.

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Acknowledgements

This work contributes to the Pollution Observatory of the Helmholtz Association-funded programme FRAM (Frontiers of Arctic Marine Monitoring), which funded M.B.T. M.B. is funded by the PoF IV program “Changing Earth - Sustaining our Future” Topic 6.4 of the German Helmholtz Association and E.v.S. was supported by the European Research Council (TOPIOS, grant no. 715386). This publication is Eprint ID 54388 of the Alfred-Wegener-Institut Helmholtz-Zentrum für Polar- und Meeresforschung.

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  1. Joan Fabres

    Present address: SALT, Svolvær, Norway

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Alfred-Wegener-Institut Helmholtz-Zentrum für Polar- und Meeresforschung, Bremerhaven, Germany

    Melanie Bergmann & Mine B. Tekman

  2. Norwegian Polar Institute, Fram Centre, Tromsø, Norway

    France Collard & Geir W. Gabrielsen

  3. GRID-Arendal, Arendal, Norway

    Joan Fabres

  4. National Wildlife Research Centre, Environment and Climate Change Canada, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

    Jennifer F. Provencher

  5. Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

    Chelsea M. Rochman

  6. Institute for Marine and Atmospheric Research, Utrecht University, Utrecht, Netherlands

    Erik van Sebille

  7. Freudenthal Institute, Faculty of Science, Utrecht University, Utrecht, Netherlands

    Erik van Sebille

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Contributions

M.B. conceived and led the Review and contributed with text and figures, as did F.C., J.F.P. and M.B.T. C.M.R., J.F., E.v.S. and G.W.G. contributed to the writing and editing.

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Bergmann, M., Collard, F., Fabres, J. et al. Plastic pollution in the Arctic. Nat Rev Earth Environ 3, 323–337 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s43017-022-00279-8

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