Pacific garbage patch
In the meantime, the non-profit is working with South Pole to offset its emissions. The Ocean Cleanup partners with Maersk to develop the most fuel-efficient way to do it, from routing to logistics to looking into more sustainable fuels for the vessels.
#Pacific garbage patch full
#Pacific garbage patch Patch
This garbage patch is the current focus of The Ocean Cleanup. According to National Geographic, the garbage in the GPGP comes from around 20 million square kilometers of area, from the West Coast of North America to Japan. The biggest one is the Great Pacific Garbage Patch (GPGP) in the North Pacific Ocean. There are five ocean garbage patches where trash accumulates. For the good of our environment, biodiversity, and people, cleaning them up is a must. Our planet is mostly oceans, and too much of our oceans is trash.
From entanglement of large, migratory animals like whales to being mistaken for food by sea turtles, fish, and sea birds, marine debris causes physical (and at times lethal) harm to marine animals.“Plastics in the oceans and microplastics in our bodies” have become a bitter “trademark” of today’s world. Marine debris isn’t just unsightly, it is harmful to the plants and animals that call the ocean home. Once there, debris will float along with currents until it ends up trapped between gyres for an uncertain amount of time. Where does all the debris that comprises the Great Pacific Garbage Patch come from? An estimated 54 percent of debris swirling in the Patch originates from land in North America and Asia, while another 20 percent likely comes from boats, large cargo ships, cruise ships, and offshore oil rigs that either lose or intentionally discard debris into the ocean. In fact, scientists recently found that about 70% of all marine debris eventually sinks to the ocean floor. Larger and heavier pieces of debris sink, and it is likely there is even more garbage below either of the two patches. Almost entirely comprised of microplastics – small pieces of plastic that measure less than five millimeters long – and discarded fishing gear floating at the water’s surface, the Great Pacific Garbage Patch formed due to the buoyant and durable nature of these materials, which allows them to float for years in the ocean without breaking down. Two segments of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch exist in the Pacific Ocean: the Western Garbage patch, which is closer to Japan, and the Eastern Garbage Patch, which is closer to southern California and Mexico. Gyres are unique forms of ocean currents because they are large systems that move in a swirling motion, leaving marine debris caught in their path to move and be trapped in the calmer, more stable middle of the gyre. Photo Credit: NOAA You may have heard of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch but what is it, how did it start, and can we do anything about it? The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is the name for a collection of marine debris that accumulated over time due to converging ocean currents called gyres.