The Great Pacific Garbage Patch

The Great Pacific Garbage Patch - this name gives an impression of a huge pool of trash floating in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. While this is partially true, a more accurate description would be an accumulation of trash and microplastics. And this definition creates a bigger cause for concern.

This patch is a result of gyres, which are circular currents that are able to suck in trash like a vortex. The debris is then trapped in the centre where currents are calmer. As most of the rubbish is not biodegradable, they accumulate and resulted in this phenomenon today. Although many such patches exist, the Great Pacific Garbage Patch is the largest and is located between North America and Japan. Some sources describe the size of the patch as being comparable to Alaska, while others define it as a cloudy soup of microplastics.

According to NOAA, microplastics are small plastics pieces shorter than 5mm in length. The primary source of microplastics come from products such as microbeads found in facial cleansers and detergent powders. Secondary sources of microplastics originate from non-biodegradable plastic garbage which has broken down into smaller pieces due to UV rays.

There has been poor understanding of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. In fact, its extent is still being debated. Moreover, not all litter float on the surface and the problem could be several times more severe at deeper depths.

What is undeniable is the need for remediation. Humans have been consuming plastic at an alarming rate and no feasible large-scale method for disposing plastic safely has been developed. Recently, there are news that there is a second great garbage patch in South Pacific. Moore, the founder and research director of Algalita Marine Research and Education Foundation, found more plastic than plankton in one of his manta trawls at the South Pacific gyre.

There has been efforts to reduce plastic consumption, such as banning the use of plastic bags in retail. However, I believe this touches only the tip of the iceberg since plastic is still used extensive in packaging and much more other items. As mentioned earlier, not all of the debris are found at the surface. Add the tiny size of microplastic into the equation and we have an immensely difficult problem of clearing our waste from the ocean. However, what we can do is to reduce our input of waste into the ocean. I have been watching videos by people adopting the zero-waste lifestyle and I believe this will be a significant step towards the right direction.

Sources:

http://www.popsci.com/south-pacific-garbage-patch#page-3

http://www.latimes.com/opinion/opinion-la/la-ol-another-pacific-plastic-patch-20170720-story.html

http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/environment/a27433/scientists-found-a-second-pacific-garbage-patch/

https://marinedebris.noaa.gov/info/patch.html

https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/microplastics.html

https://www.nationalgeographic.org/encyclopedia/great-pacific-garbage-patch/

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/2016/10/05/great-pacific-garbage-patch-is-a-myth-warn-experts-as-survey-sho/