Plastic Island, also know as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, at one time was considered to be an environmental urban myth — something over-zealous ecologists referred to as a rationale to stop consuming plastics. Unfortunately the Great Pacific Garbage Patch is real, located between Hawaii and Los Angeles, in the North Central Pacific subtropical gyre; estimates put the Pacific Garbage patch at the size of Texas (about 261,000 square miles). Some reports indicate Plastic Island is, in fact, twice the size of Texas.
Marine watchdog groups are now reporting there is more than one plastic island. The Western Garbage Patch, another enormous floating plastic mass is located off the coast of Japan. Smaller plastic masses have been reported at various locations throughout the world’s oceans.
Studies on marine garbage have found plastics continue to make up between 60% to 80% of all marine debris.
Plastic, plastic everywhere…
Plastics end up in the oceans from a number of sources; illegal and accidental dumping, individuals discarding waste on beaches, and plastic from landfills. Preproduction plastic pellets are another serious contributor to plastic pollution in waterways. More than one quadrillion of these pellets, or 60 billion pounds, are manufactured annually in the United States alone. Often these pellets accidentally end up in the ocean during transportation. Once in the water, the plastics float until currents catch the debris and funnel it to various deposits throughout the world’s oceans.
Plastic’s deadly legacy
Floating plastic is deadly to marine life. Sea creatures and birds get entangled in plastic, impairing their growth, ability to fly and eat; they accidentally ingest plastic debris or get caught in the plastic mass and drown. Many sea creatures mistake the plastic for food and choke to death on the plastic or ingest so much they feel full, only to later starve to death. Australia’s Planet Ark reports, “Plastic in an animal’s gut can prevent food digestion and can lead to a very slow and painful death”.
The San Diego Coastkeeper, an American non-profit, estimates, “…plastics in the ocean outweigh natural zooplankton by a 6:1 ratio. This means marine life is now consuming more plastic than zooplankton”. Marine trash is killing more than a million seabirds and 100,000 mammals and sea turtles each year, reported U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan. Plastic marine debris affects an estimated 275 species worldwide.
How bad is the problem?
Marine experts report more than 80% of the plastic originates from a land based source. Unfortunately, of the nearly 200 billion pounds of plastic the world produces each year, about 10% (an estimated 20 billion pounds) ends up in the oceans, according to Greenpeace International. Numerous studies on marine garbage have found that plastics continue to make up between 60% to 80% of all marine debris. The report Plastic Debris in the World’s Oceans from Greenpeace International explains, “...in the North Pacific Gyre [Plastic Island I], a debris convergence zone, was found to contain maximum levels, that when extrapolated represent, near to a million items [of plastic] per square kilometer”.
An international effort will be required to remove the plastic clogging the world’s oceans.
What can we do?
The plastic floating in the ocean is difficult to retrieve due to the fact it is not only on the surface, rather in some areas, the plastic debris extends to more than 100 feet below the ocean surface. The location of the plastic debris islands are also difficult to access due to their distance from land. Captain Charles Moore, the world’s foremost Plastic Island expert, with the USA–based Algalita Marine Research Foundation, continues to make regular trips to the North Central Pacific gyre to conduct research on the effect plastic debris is having on the marine life and raise awareness about the serious impact plastic is having on the oceans. An international effort will be required to remove the plastic clogging the world’s oceans.
In a few short years, Plastic Island has gone from an environmental urban myth to an icon of our consumption.
Green Pages
The Algalita Marine Research Foundation is dedicated to the protection of the marine environment and its watersheds through research, education, and restoration. Captain Charles Moore, Algalita Marine Research Foundation founder, has made several trips to the plastic islands and is considered an expert on the plastic debris accumulating in the oceans: http://www.algalita.org/
Read Greenpeace International's report Plastic Debris in the World’s Oceans.
The Plastic Debris, Rivers to Sea Project seeks to minimize land-based discharges of debris. Just like ocean-based marine debris, land-based dumping of human-made debris is comprised mostly of plastics: http://www.plasticdebris.org/
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written by Nobody cares , January 18, 2011