What can be done about the Great Pacific Garbage Patch?

The Solution to the Great Pacific Garbage Patch: The Ocean Cleanup Project. The company says that with enough fleets of systems deployed in every ocean gyre and with the inflow from rivers reduced, it should be able to clean up 90\% of all plastic ocean waste by 2040.

What will happen if we don’t do anything about the Great Pacific Garbage Patch?

The Great Pacific Garbage Patch, and plastic pollution generally, is killing marine life. 1 million seabirds and 100,000 marine mammals are affected every year, as well as many other species. For example, turtles often mistake plastic bags for prey such as jellyfish. This means we could be eating our own trash.

How can we stop pollution in the Pacific ocean?

How can you help our ocean?

1. Conserve Water. Use less water so excess runoff and wastewater will not flow into the ocean.
2. Reduce Pollutants. Choose nontoxic chemicals and dispose of herbicides, pesticides, and cleaning products properly.
3. Reduce Waste. Cut down on what you throw away.

What is being done about plastic pollution?

NRDC fights to protect marine life by preventing plastic pollution from reaching the ocean in the first place. One of the most effective solutions is to call on producers of single-use plastics to take greater responsibility for their products.

Why is the Great Pacific Garbage Patch important?

Conversely, plastics can also absorb pollutants, such as PCBs, from the seawater. These chemicals can then enter the food chain when consumed by marine life. Because the Great Pacific Garbage Patch is so far from any country’s coastline, no nation will take responsibility or provide the funding to clean it up.

How does the Pacific garbage patch affect humans?

Of the most devastating elements of this pollution is that plastics takes thousands of years to decay. As a result, fish and wildlife are becoming intoxicated. Consequently the toxins from the plastics have entered the food chain, threatening human health.

Why should readers be concerned about the Pacific garbage patch?

Debris trapped in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch is harmful to marine life. For example, loggerhead turtles consume plastic bags because they have a similar appearance to jellyfish when they are floating in the water. In turn, the plastic can hurt, starve, or suffocate the turtle.

What caused the Great Pacific Garbage Patch?

It is also supported by phenomena called “gyres”, which are large systems of swirling ocean currents. The circular motions of the outer walls of the gyres draw in the trash that floats in from the land and piles it up on the gyre center, thus creating the garbage patch.

How much plastic is in the ocean 2020?

There is now 5.25 trillion macro and micro pieces of plastic in our ocean & 46,000 pieces in every square mile of ocean, weighing up to 269,000 tonnes. Every day around 8 million pieces of plastic makes their way into our oceans.

Who is responsible for the Great Pacific Garbage Patch?

But specifically, scientists say, the bulk of the garbage patch trash comes from China and other Asian countries. This shouldn’t be a surprise: Overall, worldwide, most of the plastic trash in the ocean comes from Asia.