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Welcome to the Plasticene. If you’re under age 70, it’s possible you’ve lived in the Plasticene for your entire life. It’s a new geologic age some scientists have proposed to mark the near-universal spread of plastic around Earth. Since the 1950s, researchers say, we’ve been living in the Age of Plastics.
You may have heard of another relatively new time period—the Anthropocene, or Epoch of Humans. (Yes, we live in confusing times.) However, the Age of Plastics isn’t meant to replace that. Instead, the Age of Plastics is a smaller piece of the Epoch of Humans that started in the mid-20th century. Scientists contend it deserves special recognition because, unlike many things we leave behind, plastics can leave a distinct mark in the fossil record.
Many strange things have begun appearing in the Age of Plastics, especially in our oceans and along our shores. Some are so new, scientists are just finding words for them. What do you call an animal that makes its home on plastic? How about one that accidentally swallows a bottle cap? For that reason, a team led by Linsey Haram from the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center, Williams College-Mystic Seaport and Hawai’i’s International Pacific Research Center put together a list of terms poised to become more common in the future. Here are 12 words that describe the new age:
Plasticene
The Age of Plastics, a proposed new age in Earth's history that began with the proliferation of plastics in the 1950s. Scientists believe the buildup of plastics will leave traces in the fossil record. The "Plasticene" would fit inside the larger "Anthropocene," or Epoch of Humans. (Credit: Bo Eide. Creative Commons License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/)
Plastisphere
Communities of organisms that live on floating plastic. While originally this word referred to only microbes, scientists now propose expanding it to include entire communities associated with plastics, from tiny bacteria to large bivalves and even fish. (Credit: Nancy Treneman)
Epiplastic
Living on plastic. (Credit: Justin Hoffman/Greenpeace)
Plasticized
Describes environments or animals made more "plastic" by the spread of plastic pollution. "Plasticized animals" are ones that eat plastic inadvertently or get tangled in plastic litter, like this seal. (Credit: Nels Israelson. Creative Commons License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.0/)
Plastivore
An organism that ingests plastic accidentally, often mistaking plastic for one of its natural foods. The Laysan albatross has become a poster-child plastivore: These birds pick up plastic as they search the water's surface for food—food which they often feed to their chicks. While adults can vomit up the plastic, baby chicks can't, so it remains trapped in their stomachs. (Credit: Claire Fackler/NOAA)
Plastiglomerate
A hard material that forms when molten plastic fuses with rock or other materials. This can happen when plastic burns in campfires, especially on beaches. (Credit: Museon. Creative Commons License: Commons License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/deed.en)
Pyroplastic
A mass of melted plastic debris found on beaches. Unlike plastiglomerates, pyroplastics contain only plastic, making them less dense and able to float in seawater. (Credit: minustide. Creative Commons License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/)
Plasticrust
Plastic debris attached to a rocky shore. A team of Portuguese scientists led by Ignacio Gestoso coined the term after discovering them on an island in Madeira in 2016. (Credit: Ignacio Gestoso)
Plastitrash
Garbage, litter, debris or other waste made of any kind of plastic. (Credit: KimF. Creative Commons License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.0/)
Plastic Confetti
Small, multicolored plastic fragments that form as larger plastic pollution degrades. Though long used in toy and party decoration stores, the term "plastic confetti" first began to describe pollution when it appeared in the Pacific Ocean, according to the paper's authors. (Credit: Annie Crawley)
Plastic Cycle
The origin and movement of plastic between different environments. This includes human environments, such as places that produce or transform plastic. (Credit: Bdx. Creative Commons License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/deed.en)
Nurdles
Tiny beads or pellets of plastic that act as raw materials for manufacturing plastic products. A word of many faces, "nurdle" has also been thrown around in the sport of cricket and described globs of toothpaste. (Credit: gentlemanrook. Creative Commons License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/deed.en)
To read about the discovery of plasticrusts by Ignacio Gestoso and the team at Portugal’s Marine and Environmental Science’s Centre, check out this CNN article or find the journal article here.
That’s a great question. Microplastics are undeniably a major player in plastic pollution. There are two reasons they’re not included here: the paper’s authors wanted to highlight lesser-known words, and there’s no agreed-on definition for “microplastics” yet. Microplastics are so varied, scientists are still trying to come up with a single definition that can describe them all!
The age of the Plasticene . Good name for it . The terminus of the Pleistocene epoch lasted 100,000 years . Will the Plasticene last equally as long ? Nice attention getting article . Thanks
Chemical contamination from plastics is usually called “leaching,” but residual plastic waste is so broad that there isn’t a single word or definition yet to describe it. The field of plastics is relatively new and growing quickly, so we expect there will be plenty more vocab words in the future.
How on Earth did yall include plastic confetti, but not microplastics!?
That’s a great question. Microplastics are undeniably a major player in plastic pollution. There are two reasons they’re not included here: the paper’s authors wanted to highlight lesser-known words, and there’s no agreed-on definition for “microplastics” yet. Microplastics are so varied, scientists are still trying to come up with a single definition that can describe them all!
What is the residual plastic contamination passed on called? Is that also included?
The age of the Plasticene . Good name for it . The terminus of the Pleistocene epoch lasted 100,000 years . Will the Plasticene last equally as long ? Nice attention getting article . Thanks
Chemical contamination from plastics is usually called “leaching,” but residual plastic waste is so broad that there isn’t a single word or definition yet to describe it. The field of plastics is relatively new and growing quickly, so we expect there will be plenty more vocab words in the future.