The Great Pacific Garbage Patch: A Plastic Crisis

The Great Pacific Garbage Patch, located between Hawaii and California, is the largest accumulation of ocean plastic in the world. It is a gyre of marine debris particles in the central North Pacific Ocean, formed by ocean currents. The patch is not a continuous patch of easily visible marine debris but a widely dispersed area consisting primarily of fingernail-sized or smaller particles in the upper water column known as microplastics. While the exact amount of debris in the patch is unknown, estimates range from 79,000 to 100,000 tons of plastic, equivalent to 1.8 trillion pieces of trash. The patch is believed to be rapidly accumulating, with plastic concentrations seven times greater than zooplankton in many sampled areas.

The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is the largest accumulation of ocean plastic in the world

The Great Pacific Garbage Patch (GPGP) is the largest accumulation of ocean plastic in the world. Located in the central North Pacific Ocean, it spans an estimated surface area of 1.6 million square kilometres, twice the size of Texas or three times the size of France. The GPGP is one of five offshore plastic accumulation zones in the world's oceans, situated between Hawaii and California and extending as far north as Japan.

The patch is a collection of marine debris, primarily consisting of microplastics, or plastic particles less than five millimetres in size. These tiny plastic pieces often cannot be seen by the naked eye, and the patch appears as a cloudy soup of plastic in the water, rather than the giant islands of trash that are commonly imagined. However, the GPGP also contains larger items such as fishing gear and shoes, with 92% of the patch's mass made up of objects that have not yet fragmented into microplastics. These include items such as plastic lighters, toothbrushes, water bottles, pens, baby bottles, cell phones, plastic bags, and nurdles, some of which are over 50 years old.

The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is a result of the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre, a large system of swirling ocean currents formed by the California Current, the North Equatorial Current, the Kuroshio Current, and the North Pacific Current. The circular motion of the gyre draws debris into its stable centre, trapping it. The GPGP is constantly changing due to seasonal and interannual variabilities of winds and currents, and its plastic contents are transported by these currents, as well as by surface winds.

The plastic in the GPGP is not limited to the surface but can also sink several meters beneath it, making the patch's total volume challenging to measure. While the exact amount of debris in the patch is unknown, it is estimated to contain 1.8 trillion plastic pieces weighing 79 kilotonnes. The patch is rapidly accumulating plastic, with an estimated 1.15 to 2.41 million metric tonnes of plastic entering the ocean each year. As plastic production is projected to triple by 2060, the amount of plastic in the GPGP will continue to increase if no urgent action is taken.

The patch is located between Hawaii and California

The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is the largest accumulation of ocean plastic in the world. It is located between Hawaii and California, in the central North Pacific Ocean. The patch is also known as the Pacific Trash Vortex and the North Pacific Garbage Patch. It spans waters from the West Coast of North America to Japan. The patch is formed by the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre, which is made up of four currents: the California Current, the North Equatorial Current, the Kuroshio Current, and the North Pacific Current. These currents rotate clockwise, drawing in waste material from across the North Pacific, including the coastal waters of North America and Japan.

The collection of plastic and floating trash in the patch originates from the Pacific Rim, including countries in Asia, North America, and South America. The patch is not a continuous patch of easily visible marine debris but is instead a widely dispersed area consisting primarily of "fingernail-sized or smaller" particles, often microscopic, known as microplastics. These microplastics are suspended in the upper water column and are often invisible to the naked eye, giving the water a cloudy appearance.

The Great Pacific Garbage Patch formed gradually as a result of ocean or marine pollution gathered by ocean currents. It occupies a relatively stationary region of the North Pacific Ocean, bounded by the North Pacific Gyre. The patch has been the subject of various research and clean-up efforts, with organisations such as The Ocean Cleanup working to remove trash from the area.

The amount of debris in the patch accumulates due to the non-biodegradable nature of the waste, with plastics breaking into smaller and smaller pieces over time. The patch is believed to have increased "10-fold each decade" since 1945, and research indicates that it is rapidly accumulating. While microplastics dominate the area by count, larger objects that have not yet fragmented into microplastics make up 92% of the patch's mass. Some of the plastic in the patch is over 50 years old, and the debris includes items such as plastic lighters, toothbrushes, water bottles, pens, baby bottles, cell phones, plastic bags, and nurdles.

It is made up of microplastics, mesoplastics, macroplastics, and megaplastics

The Great Pacific Garbage Patch, located between Hawaii and California, is the largest accumulation of ocean plastic in the world. It is a garbage patch, a gyre of marine debris particles, in the central North Pacific Ocean. The patch is not a large and continuous patch of easily visible marine debris items such as bottles and other litter. Instead, it is a widely dispersed area consisting primarily of suspended "fingernail-sized or smaller"—often microscopic—particles in the upper water column known as microplastics.

Microplastics are plastic particles smaller than 5mm. They are formed as a result of the degradation of larger plastic items such as bags, containers, bottles, and, in particular, ropes and nets. They can also be manufactured by the plastics industry for usage in cosmetics, personal care items, and cleaning agents.

Mesoplastics range in size from 0.5 to 5 cm. They are not mentioned in the sources provided, but based on the size range, they could include items such as bottle caps, plastic cutlery, and small toys.

Macroplastics are typically categorized as anything larger than 5mm. They can include items such as plastic lighters, toothbrushes, water bottles, pens, baby bottles, cell phones, and plastic bags. Macroplastics can lead to entanglement and the ingestion of marine megafauna. As they degrade over time, they break down into microplastics.

Megaplastics are pieces of plastic larger than 50 cm. Examples of megaplastics are not provided in the sources, but based on the size range, they could include items such as plastic furniture, large containers, or construction materials.

The patch is rapidly accumulating plastic and growing in size

The Great Pacific Garbage Patch (GPGP) is the largest accumulation of ocean plastic in the world. Located between Hawaii and California, it spans waters from the West Coast of North America to Japan. The GPGP is a collection of marine debris in the central North Pacific Ocean, formed by the Western Garbage Patch near Japan and the Eastern Garbage Patch between Hawaii and California.

The GPGP is composed of microplastics (0.05-0.5 cm), mesoplastics (0.5-5 cm), macroplastics (5-50 cm), and megaplastics (>50 cm). Microplastics dominate the area by count, but larger objects make up 92% of the patch's mass. These larger objects include fishing gear, shoes, and other items such as plastic lighters, toothbrushes, water bottles, and plastic bags. Some of the plastic in the patch is over 50 years old, and the plastic type and age prove that plastic has the capacity to persist in this region.

The accumulation of plastic in the GPGP is a result of plastic emissions from rivers and fishing activities at sea. The plastic emitted by fishing activities has a higher chance of accumulating offshore, leading to high concentrations of fishing-related debris in the patch. The buoyant plastic mass in the patch is distributed within the top few meters of the ocean, and factors such as wind speed, sea state, and plastic buoyancy influence vertical mixing. While the patch is not visible from space or by casual boaters or divers in the area, it poses a significant threat to the environment and marine life.

Efforts to clean up the patch are ongoing, but challenging

Efforts to clean up the Great Pacific Garbage Patch are ongoing, but challenging. The Ocean Cleanup, a Dutch nonprofit, is the most high-profile organization working to rid the oceans of plastic pollution. Its goal is to remove 90% of floating plastic pollution in the ocean. The Ocean Cleanup has raised $40 million to deploy a massive device to capture plastic pollution. This device is a large, floating, net-like barrier three meters deep that forms a large U-shape and is slowly towed by two ships. The natural flow caused by the movement directs plastic to the central retention zone. Once a week, the two vessels come together to close the barriers, pick up the retention zone, and empty the plastic onto one of their decks. The plastic is then separated into different recycling streams, packaged, and sent to recycling facilities onshore.

The Ocean Cleanup's System 001/B is the organization's second attempt to prove its concept of collecting garbage from the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. System 001/B has successfully captured microplastics as small as 1mm, in addition to plainly visible pieces of plastic debris and much larger ghost nets associated with commercial fishing. By the end of 2024, the Ocean Cleanup had removed more than one million pounds of trash from the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, or 0.5% of the total accumulated trash.

While the efforts of the Ocean Cleanup are promising, some marine biologists believe its methods could do more harm than good. Furthermore, the challenge of cleaning up microplastics while also protecting ecosystems is a significant one. Researchers may develop technology in the future to separate microplastics from other particles efficiently, but this technology does not currently exist.

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