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Rbp27

From Beachapedia

Great Pacific Garbage Patch

The 'Great Pacific Garbage Patch' (Garbage Patch) is an area in the North Pacific Ocean, roughly between San Francisco and Hawaii, where currents converge and collects debris, mainly various types of plastics. The Garbage Patch is created by the North Pacific Gyre. A Gyre is a system of circulating currents in an ocean, caused by the Coriolis Effect.

Most of the plastic debris in the Garbage Patch is from land-based sources and survives the long trip there because conventional plastic does not biodegrade and current bioplastics do not biodegrade in the marine environment. Any type of plastic only photodegrades in the marine environment, which limits it to breaking into smaller pieces and/or changing color over time as it is exposed to UV light.

This 'Garbage Patch' could better be described as a plastic soup in the middle of the ocean where plastics in various stages of degradation are suspended in the upper layers of the water column. Studies from Algalita Marine Research Foundation and Scripps Seaplex have been documented pelagic fish that are consuming plastic.

Over time gyres can spit out debris that accumulates in them and an example of that can be seen on beaches in the Hawaiian Islands that face northeast. The plastic litter that accumulates there can be staggering. Photos of Laysan albatross carcasses with large amounts of plastic in their stomachs documented the deadly effects of plastic and motivated people to help with plastic reduction efforts.

People and groups have discussed cleaning up the Garbage Patch but it's really not practical. There are some great projects to help retrieve 'ghost nets' and other derelict fishing gear but much of the plastic is in such small pieces that other marine life would be impacted by a cleanup, negating any positive aspects.

The best solution is to stop feeding the Garbage Patch with plastic and stop litter at the source.