The Great Pacific Garbage Patch

Tue, Feb 12th 2008, 00:00

Ever wondered where the trash that washes down our rivers and out to sea end up?


Scientists have discovered a giant deposit of trash suspended in the Pacific Ocean. Most of it comes from plastic compounds - washed out to sea and eventually drawn into a vortex of ocean currents called the North Pacific Gyre.

This deposit of trash is enormous - the size of a large continent. It is a depressing testament to the progress that has been made in plastic production over the past 50 years. Plastic compounds these days are so robust, they take forever to decompose.

And the continent of trash floating in our oceans consists of all this plastic. None of it fully decomposes. Washed out to sea, it simply breaks down into smaller and smaller particles. No bacteria can consume it, so eventually we are left with individual indestructable molecules of plastic.

The plastic is easily confused as plankton, so sea creatures like jelly fish and sea turtles eat it. They in turn are eaten by other creatures and these indestructible toxic substances enter our food chain. Sea birds have been found dead with plastic articles like cigarette lighters in their stomachs. Seals get entangled in the mess. Every now and then deposits of the muck are washed up on the beaches of the nearby island of Hawaii. A depressing thought ...

The Great Pacific Garbage Patch was first noticed by sailor and scientist, Charles Moore, who took a detour on his return voyage from a yacht race to Hawaii.  He entered an area usually avoided by sailors because there is no wind. This becalmed region ten million square miles (34 million km²) in area is surrounded by the swirling North Pacific Gyre.

As Moore describes: "there were shampoo caps and soap bottles and plastic bags and fishing floats as far as I could see. Here I was in the middle of the ocean, and there was nowhere I could go to avoid the plastic."

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