The Pacific Garbage Patch Is Probably Not What You Think It Is

Before 2012, little was known about the great pacific garbage patch. Although research was was first published in 1988 by NOAA, the general public did not have a very good understanding of what the garbage patch really was. In 2012, a documentary by vice brought forth a visual representation of what the patch actually looked like in real life and the way trash interacted with the ocean. Nowadays the Great Pacific Garbage patch is common knowledge to most Americans. Even with this increased awareness though, there is still a great deal of confusion about what the garbage patch really looks like and the full extent of the problem.

The Pacific Garbage Patch is a collection of various marine debris in the North Pacific ocean, between Hawaii and mainland United States. This patch carries debris from the western united states and parts of Asia. The Northern Pacific Subtropical Gyre is where various forms of waste ends up after years of travel through the pacific. At the center of the Gyre, the water is relatively calm, slowly collecting pieces of trash together in an area that is 7.7 Million square miles.

The reality of the patch isn’t as initially shocking as one might imagine. While there is an large amount of trash that is easily seen with the naked eye and large nets, the vast majority of the debris are broken down pieces of plastic not generally seen unless someone is specifically looking for it. This plastic gets broken down into microplastics that are nearly impossible to collect. This plastic is ingested by an array of aquatic life causing an immense amount of harm to natural ecosystems not to mention human consumption.

What plastic debris does not get stuck in the patch often lands on beaches around the world from Hawaii to remote places in Alaska, disrupting bird populations and their ecosystems. The problem is one of astronomical proportions, effecting wildlife in nearly every part of the world.

Plastic Pollution continues to be a problem around the world. According to Ocean Conservancy, around 8 million metric tons of plastic goes into the world’s oceans each year. In addition, around 40% of the plastic produced is only used once before it is discarded. With the amount of plastic in the ocean currently it would be nearly impossible to clean up, but the number is exponentially growing each year making the problem an existential threat to our planet as we know it.

At the pace the planet is going, there will soon be more trash than fish in the ocean. The world continues to not act quickly enough to get ahead our plastic problem, leaving plastics throughout our oceans ecosystems and microplastics in our bodies. The issue is being worked on from different angles by environmental groups and organizations aggressively.

Organizations are looking to solve this problem from the recycling side of things to new innovations that aim to eliminate the pacific garbage patch by trolling the water with specialized nets geared toward capturing microplastics. The Ocean Cleanup has put forth the most in depth research of the patch so far. This research is helping scientists and environmentalists identify what exactly the patch consists of and methods of how this can be collected.

Recently, environmentalists pulled out 40 tons of garbage from the patch, the largest haul ever to date. The volunteer researchers with the Ocean Voyages Institute, raised awareness by completing the haul but barely scratched the surface of the problem.

Awareness is raising around this important issue every day and more people are joining in the fight. Currently Ben Lecomte, a professional swimmer, is on a journey to swim through the garbage patch. This documented trip called the Vortex Swim is taking the swimmer directly through the patch over 300 nautical miles in order to raise awareness about the problem of ocean plastic.

The Ocean Cleanup has a promising technology that hopes to make a dent in this problem. The innovation uses a Large U-shaped floating device with nets that hang below the surface to catch debris without harming wildlife. The technology has been in the process of proving the concept of the technology to be scaled up in the future. The goal of the endeavor is to reduce the size of the patch by 50% by 2025.

It is clear there is an enormous and existential threat facing our planet due to the excess plastic we use every day. Each person contributes to this problem when they use plastic whether knowing or unknowingly. The only way this problem is truly solvable is to stop the flow of plastic into the ocean. This can only be done when plastic ceases to be a part of our daily lives.