Plastic patch in Pacific Ocean growing rapidly, study shows

[Zippyjuan]

http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-43490235

A collection of plastic afloat in the Pacific Ocean is growing rapidly, according to a new scientific estimate.

Predictions suggest a build-up of about 80,000 tonnes of plastic in the "Great Pacific Garbage Patch" between California and Hawaii.

This figure is up to sixteen times higher than previously reported, say international researchers.

One trawl in the centre of the patch had the highest concentration of plastic ever recorded.

"Plastic concentration is increasing - I think the situation is getting worse," said Laurent Lebreton of The Ocean Cleanup Foundation in Delft, Netherlands, which led the study.

"This really highlights the urgency to take action in stopping the in-flow of plastic into the ocean and also taking measures to clean up the existing mess."

Waste accumulates in five ocean areas, the largest being the patch located between Hawaii and California.

The researchers used boats and planes to map this area of the North Pacific, where rotating currents and winds cause marine debris, including plastic, seaweed and plankton, to converge.



The three-year mapping effort showed that plastic pollution is "increasing exponentially and at a faster rate than in the surrounding water", said the international team.

Microplastics accounted for 8% of the total mass of plastic afloat within an area of 1.6 million square km.

Of the estimated 1.8 trillions bits of plastic, some were larger than microplastics, including fishing nets, toys, and even a toilet seat.

Erik van Sebille of Utrecht University in the Netherlands, who is not connected with the study, said the amount of plastic discovered was "staggering".

"While their estimates come with large uncertainty ranges, they do report a staggering amount of plastic," he said.

"And they also discovered that the Garbage Patch is moving around much more than anyone expected."

More at link.

[NorthCarolinaLiberty]

[oyarde]

Seems like californians on the coast throw too much into the drink . How should they be punished ? They might need to go pick up all the plastic .

[NorthCarolinaLiberty]

New York City underwater? Gas over $9 a gallon? A carton of milk costs almost $13? Welcome to June 12, 2015. Or at least that was the wildly-inaccurate version of 2015 predicted by ABC News exactly seven years ago.

[VIDEODROME]

So why isn't this $#@! going to a landfill?

[Superfluous Man]

How many people in the world would know these plastic patches existed if the media didn't tell us? And of those people, how many would care or experience any harm?

The answer to the first question is maybe in the thousands, and the answer to the second is zero.

Leave these plastic patches alone and just let them keep growing and not hurting anybody. The middle of the ocean is the perfect place for our trash.

Maybe eventually, when they get big enough, there will be enough profit to gain to justify the cost of salvaging that plastic to recycle or burn it for fuel. And when somebody comes along with a way of making money like that, more power to them. Until then, there's no reason to give this stuff a second thought.

[Superfluous Man]

Also, supposedly excessive plastic exposure affects animals hormones. It would be interesting to learn more about that. So in the name of science, why not let this play out and see what we can learn about biology and stuff?

[NorthCarolinaLiberty]

Of the estimated 1.8 trillions bits of plastic, some were larger than microplastics, including fishing nets, toys, and even a toilet seat.

Wow, a whole toilet seat, huh?

"While their estimates come with large uncertainty ranges, they do report a staggering amount of plastic," he said.

Yeah, there might be two toilet seats down there. That would be double.





.

[jkr]

HARVEST IT!

[Brian4Liberty]

Seems like californians on the coast throw too much into the drink . How should they be punished ? They might need to go pick up all the plastic .

Don't forget Asia.

[Dr.3D]

That stuff could be harvested and used to make giant Lego Blocks for the construction of buildings.

[Raginfridus]

Wow, Cuba has better plastic management than we have...

[oyarde]

Don't forget Asia.

Ya , when I was a kid asia was the third world and they could not afford a plastic press or mold . Beer was warm , but you could get a nice fake Rolex for price of a six pack .

[oyarde]

That stuff could be harvested and used to make giant Lego Blocks for the construction of buildings.

The school kids in muh county save plastic bottle caps . They send them to some CO that makes park benches out of them .

[fisharmor]

80,000 tons?
Holy $#@!, that's exactly like...

6 percent of the weight of harvested crabs in 2005,
2.3 percent of the weight of harvested shrimp,
2 percent of the weight of harvested squid,
0.35 percent of the weight of sardines, herring, and anchovies,
0.7 percent of the weight of other miscellaneous pelagic fish,
0.089 percent of cod and haddock,
1.3 percent of tuna and bonito,

And that's 80,000 tons as a percentage of EACH of those catches, and that's catches for ONE YEAR, and there are many more other categories I didn't do the math on. The amount of stuff we take out is several orders of magnitude higher than what we put in.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_...ies_production

Now I am definitely not saying it's a problem we're pulling that many fish out, but I AM saying that the "garbage patch" is so insignificantly miniscule in reality that there are multiple ways to throw simple facts at it and expect it to simply go away as a topic of conversation.

[timosman]

Zippy cares.

[oyarde]

80,000 tons?
Holy $#@!, that's exactly like...

6 percent of the weight of harvested crabs in 2005,
2.3 percent of the weight of harvested shrimp,
2 percent of the weight of harvested squid,
0.35 percent of the weight of sardines, herring, and anchovies,
0.7 percent of the weight of other miscellaneous pelagic fish,
0.089 percent of cod and haddock,
1.3 percent of tuna and bonito,

And that's 80,000 tons as a percentage of EACH of those catches, and that's catches for ONE YEAR, and there are many more other categories I didn't do the math on. The amount of stuff we take out is several orders of magnitude higher than what we put in.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_...ies_production

Now I am definitely not saying it's a problem we're pulling that many fish out, but I AM saying that the "garbage patch" is so insignificantly miniscule in reality that there are multiple ways to throw simple facts at it and expect it to simply go away as a topic of conversation.

Who is eating all those sardines ?

[timosman]

Who is eating all those sardines ?

Useless eaters?