![]() In the past, a global cleanup had been deemed impossible both because of scale and budget. The larger of the projects has been developed by Boyan Slat who founded the Ocean Cleanup Foundation. In more recent times, researchers have suggested a twofold solution: one on a large scale to reduce the actual Patch, and one on a smaller individual scale to minimise the amount of plastic finding its’ way into the ocean. The SolutionĪlthough many theories including the use of large trawler style nets to capture the plastic have been posited, there has been little success, especially as these nets only serve to capture and harm marine life as they do. There’s speculation that if something is not done quickly to combat the growing problem, entire ecosystems both on the seas surface and at the bed could be irreparably destroyed. #Great pacific garbage patch from space PatchThe space in between the two is known as the Subtropical Convergence Zone and this is also becoming home to large deposits of rubbish.Īs time goes on, the patch is becoming larger and larger and the spiral of currents simply serve to draw more and more plastic into it, creating hazards for bird and wildlife, fishing and tourism. The patch is actually made up of two separate patches, the Eastern Garbage Patch which sits between Hawaii and California and the Western Garbage Patch which sits between Hawaii and Japan. There, floating in the ocean are millions and millions of pounds of rubbish – which is mostly plastic. It is also the home of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch - otherwise known as the world’s largest landfill. Although the Pacific might be home to some of the largest fish and marine mammals on the planet, the Gyre is almost devoid of life altogether, save for shoals of plankton. Known as the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre, it is a slow moving spiral of currents which is created by high pressure. It is expected to quadruple again by mid-century.Ī report by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation earlier this year predicted there would be more plastic than fish in the oceans by 2050 unless urgent action was taken.Sitting in a broad expanse of the northern Pacific Ocean is the largest oceanic desert in the world. In 2014, 311m tonnes of plastic were produced around the world, a 20-fold increase since 1964. #Great pacific garbage patch from space fullThe full scale of plastic pollution was revealed in 2014, when a study found there were more than 5tn pieces of plastic floating in our oceans. Better recycling, better product design and some legislation is all part of that. We need to clean it up, but we also need to prevent so much entering the oceans. The boom will not be able to suck up all of the strewn rubbish, however, with Slat warning that plastic is “quite persistent. A prototype of the vulcanized rubber barrier will be tested next year, with a full-sized 100km (62-mile) barrier deployed by 2020 if trials go well. It’s a ticking time bomb because the big stuff will crumble down to micro plastics over the next few decades if we don’t act.”įollowing a further aerial survey through the heart of the patch on Sunday, the Ocean Cleanup aims to tackle the problem through a gigantic V-shaped boom, which would use sea currents to funnel floating rubbish into a cone. Slat said: “Most of the debris was large stuff. However, the new reconnaissance flights from California have found that large items of more than half a meter in size have been “heavily underestimated”. Last year, the Ocean Cleanup sent 30 vessels to cross the patch to scoop up micro plastics in fine nets to estimate the extent of the problem. The north Pacific gyre has accumulated a soup of plastic waste, including large items and smaller broken-down micro plastics that can be eaten by fish and enter the food chain.Īccording to the UN environmental programme, the great Pacific garbage patch is growing so fast that it, like the Great Wall of China, is becoming visible from space. The dimensions of this morass of waste are continually morphing, caught in one of the ocean’s huge rotating currents. The heart of the garbage patch is thought to be around 1m sq km (386,000 sq miles), with the periphery spanning a further 3.5m sq km (1,351,000 sq miles). Boyan Slat, founder of the Ocean Cleanup. ![]()
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