Troubled Waters: Exploring The Great Pacific Garbage Patch
- The Great Pacific Garbage Patch, the largest known accumulation of ocean plastic, spans an area estimated to be between 700,000 to 15 million square kilometers
- Approximately 80% of the garbage patch is composed of plastic debris
- The patch contains millions of tons of microplastics, with estimates ranging from 1.8 trillion to 3.6 trillion pieces, affecting marine life at all levels of the food chain
- Around 80% of the plastics in the patch originate from land-based sources, with rivers serving as major conduits for the transport of plastic waste into the oceans
- The presence of garbage patches is not limited to the Pacific. Similar accumulations have been identified in the Atlantic, Indian, and Southern Oceans, compounding the global plastic pollution crisis
- Sea birds and marine animals often mistake plastic debris for food. It’s estimated that around 90% of seabirds have ingested plastic, and the ingestion of plastic by fish has been documented at all trophic levels
- Plastics in the ocean can absorb and concentrate harmful pollutants such as PCBs and DDT. When consumed by marine organisms, these chemicals can enter the food chain, posing a potential risk to human health
- The economic cost associated with the impact of plastic pollution on marine ecosystems, fisheries, and tourism is estimated to be in the billions of dollars annually
- Plastics can take hundreds to thousands of years to decompose, persisting in the environment and exacerbating the problem over time
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