By Alyson Lundstrom
(Originally published for ZeroMe)
The monstrosity known as The Great Pacific Garbage Patch (GPGP) is essentially a visible diary of human consumption and our penchant for convenience. The floating landfill says a lot of human consumption.
The monstrosity known as The Great Pacific Garbage Patch (GPGP) is essentially a visible diary of human consumption and our penchant for convenience. The floating landfill says a lot of human consumption.
It is a 1. 6 million square kilometer symbol of a much larger global problem with plastic. To put this in perspective, the GPGP, a floating landfill halfway between California and Hawaii, is twice the size of Japan. We can see it, we touch it, we’ve launched humans to the moon, why can’t we clean up this garbage patch?
Who Is To Blame For The Great Pacific Garbage Patch
While we would love to point the finger elsewhere, the truth is the earth was a relatively tidy place until humans came along. Global plastic consumption over the past decade has increased by over 320 million tonnes from the decade previous. Around 60% of this plastic is less dense than seawater, making it partially to blame for the floating monstrosity that is the Great Pacific Garbage Patch (GPGP).
The lion's share of the blame is on the fishing industry and aquaculture operations which contribute between 75% to 86% of plastic debris found in the GPGP. Fishing and aquaculture activities contribute nets, ropes, and other abandoned fishing gear to the collective problem of ocean pollution. The nearly 100 million pounds of fishing gear destroy marine habitats above and below the surface. Abandoned ghost and trawling nets wreak havoc on our oceans with microplastic debris creating a cloudy soup of pollution that collects around the GPGP. In addition, larger fishing gear creates dangerous scenarios for marine mammals and bulks up the patch with floating mega debris.
What Is The GPGP Made Of
The GPGP is a lot of things, but we can say definitively it is primarily made of plastic, the man-made invention that humans have been in a toxic relationship with for the past 60 years since it became mass produced after the Second World War.
Here is makeup of the GPGP in ascending order of mass:
Fishing gear
Floats and buoys
Crates
Buckets
Food and drink packaging
Household Items
Fragments of microplastics
The oldest materials dated back just 50 years ago, suspiciously around the time the planet switched to plastic, and has increased tenfold every decade since. There is so much mass to the GPGP that there are six pounds of plastic for every one pound of native plankton.
The origins of plastics found the biggest offenders in Japan (34%) and China (32%) followed by Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam, who in total dump more plastic in the sea than all other countries combined, a parallel to the inefficient infrastructures of some of those countries to be able to recycle or process consumer materials properly.
What Positives Can We Gain From An Island Of Plastic
Within this daunting problem, there is a learning opportunity. Research within the GPGP is telling us a story about where this plastic comes from, how it enters our oceans, and what happens to materials over time. Lastly, the GPGP has become a surprising choice of home for some marine life, in particular, a category of surface-dwelling marine animals called neuston. Joining them are blue dragon nudibranchs, violet sea snakes, and Portuguese man of wars all found deep within the 79,000 tons of plastic.
Can We Clean Up The Great Pacific Garbage Patch
Anyone who has ever wanted to right a wrong would jump at a chance to clean up this floating landfill, right? Unfortunately, some people believe that because the patch has been found to support some marine life, it should be deemed a man-made ecosystem and left alone. They believe casting a big metaphorical net over the situation will also remove untold amounts of marine life with the plastic.
Others know that when plastics continue to break down into microparticles, more harm is done than good. These microplastics at less than 5 millimeters in size also just can’t simply be “vacuumed up.” The likely scenario is that we must find ways to turn off the plastic faucet into the ocean, starting with key entryways like rivers. In addition, the fishing industry must also be held accountable. Finally, just as we are evolving away from gas-powered cars in favor of electric versions, we must change the materials we use in every aspect of life to prevent them from becoming a legacy of pollution in our oceans.
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