The Great Pacific Garbage Patch: 3 Things You Should Know
Earth vs The World
The Great Pacific Trash Patch was discovered in the late 80’s, it is a collection of plastics that is covering a vast portion of the Pacific between Hawaii and California. Some estimate there will be more plastic in the sea than fish before the end of the century. Think about this, since the 1940's, only 9 percent was of the plastic produced was recycled, 12 percent was incinerated, 30 percent is still in use, and the rest is garbage!
1. The Pacific Trash Vortex covers an estimated surface area of 1.6 million square kilometers.
Trying to explain the scale of this pollution is a bit difficult so check out this visualization from Boyan Slat the and the good people at the Ocean Cleanup. Boyan Slat is a Dutch entrepreneur and inventor who has created a device designed to separate the micro plastics from the water.
2. 80,000 tons of plastic are floating in the vortex
oneworldoneocean.com
Conservatively, there are an estimated 1.8 trillion pieces of plastic make up the vortex. Some estimate there could be up to 3.6 trillion pieces. The interesting thing is that we see plastic as being a major threat because it breaks down into many small particles that can work its way up the food chain. However, what most may not know is that cigarette butts are even more plentiful in the ocean! I wonder how many are in our oceans.
3. The islands of trash are a MYTH
The use of the phrase “garbage patch” is misleading. It is not visible from space; there are no islands of trash; it is more akin to a diffuse soup of plastic floating in our oceans." - Angelicque White, Associate Professor at Oregon State. To get a better understanding of how plastic collect over time check out this video from Play media, NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
Here is some food for thought. The plastic in the oceans only breaks down into smaller pieces. The pieces of plastic are tiny enough for fish and other small animals to ingest and pass up the food chain. We are what what we eat, and if what we eat consumes plastic, then so are we.