This spiraling swirl of rushing refuse was predicted in 1988 by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) of the United States when scientists found high concentrations of marine debris accumulating in regions governed by ocean currents. It was then discovered in 1997 by Charles Moore, who ran into this plastic minefield when taking a different route through the Pacific. There is more than one gyre which accumulates large amounts of trash in our oceans, but the North Pacific Garbage Patch is the biggest. This big pile of trash floating in the middle of or ocean contains over 100 million tons in floating garbage and growing, and stretches from the coast of California to Japan.

This “patch” was created by the Pacific currents carrying garbage from North America, Asia, and the islands (the whole Pacific rim), and then concentrating it into a continent swirl of garbage; a vortex. As material is captured in the currents, wind-driven surface currents gradually move floating debris toward the center, trapping it in the region. The majority of the source of this trash comes from land – dropped into the streets, into drains, into sewers, and leading out to the ocean. About 80% is from land, and 20% from ships at sea.

Roughly 80% of the trash consists mostly of the plastic variety, and as we all know, plastic is 100% non-biodegradable. The very reason we choose plastic, its durability and stability, is the reason why it is a problem in marine environments. In water, with sunlight beating down on these materials, plastic is broken down into bits, and solids become chips and those chips become dust, eventually. The patch is actually more of a plastic soup, so despite its size and density, the patch is not visible from satellite photography, since it consists primarily of suspended particulates in the upper water column, and in some places, the floating debris goes 90 feet deep!

The more the plastic breaks down, the more of a threat it becomes, because it starts to affect even the smallest organisms on a molecular level, thus invading the entire food web in the ocean. This harms the ocean’s food chain and can thus affect us as well, causing disease, infertility, etc., because this pollution inevitably makes its way to our dinner table. Some places in the patch have six times more pieces of plastic than plankton, the main food source for many sea animals.

Experts say plastic trash has already killed millions of sea birds and marine mammals by ingestion or entanglement. Animals mistake all this waste as food and die from either plastic poisoning or blockage of their digestive system. In one case, pieces of plastic and a cigarette lighter were found in the stomach of a dead albatross.

Also, not all plastic floats. In fact around 70% of discarded plastic sinks to the bottom of the ocean. Scientists suggest that these plastics can smother the sea bottom and kill the marine life which is found there.

Even though every nation in this world is a contributor to ocean pollution, no country with a seat on the United Nations has claimed any responsibility for the patch, and therefore have not taken action to clean it up. Charles Moore claims, “a cleanup effort would bankrupt any country and kill wildlife in the nets as it went.” This clean-up project will require more money than any nation is probably willing to spend.

The only solution, or best thing we can do, is to prevent additional debris from getting into the ocean by reducing our plastic waste, reusing, recycling, refraining from littering, and participating in beach clean ups, riverbed/runoff clean ups, drainage clean ups, and other environmental clean up projects. Ultimately, more plastic recycling and wider use of biodegradable materials is the best hope for controlling these garbage patches.

We can also do our part to educate others about this environmental problem and what we can to do help. We are all connected to this planet in very fundamental ways and we must protect our very life source!

Videos:
Annabelle Gurwitch as seen on the Oprah Show

The Great Pacific Garbage Patch