The title itself should have already put you in
thoughts. By garbage islands in common language, we mean the “Great Pacific
garbage patch” or “Pacific trash vortex”.
This phenomenon was first described by Day et al. (1988) who found
relatively high concentrations of marine debris as well as pelagic plastics and
chemical sludge, accumulating in regions governed by ocean currents. The basic
idea is that once the garbage is thrown in the oceans, the oceanic currents
enclose them in a gyre and prevent them from going onshore, so they accumulate in
the oceans.
You can see visualization on the link below:
There is a big misunderstanding of this “trash
vortex”; first of all it is synthesized from microplastics creating blurriness
at the waters. Microplastics are small plastic objects that have been
relatively broken down (Kaminari, 2017).
This means that most of the debris are practically underwater and only a
small proportion stay on float, which means that picture 1 is misinformation
and from a little search it is found out that it is taken from a great
earthquake in Wakuya, Japan.
Picture 1: Earthquake
in Wakuya, Japan
Leaving all the misinformation aside, the
problem is still there. According to the MacArthur foundation report (2016)
estimates that, there are 150 million tons of plastics in the ocean today. If
we continue with the same pace, the oceans will contain 1 ton of plastics for
every 3 tons of fish by 2025 and by 2050 the total plastics in the ocean will
outweigh the fish. The effects on public health, on the environment and in
future generations will be enormous if the problem remains unaddressed (Efferth
and Norbert, 2017). Plastic litter is frequently mistaken for food; sea
turtles, Laysan albatrosses and black-footed albatross have already plastic
traces in their stomachs (Schuyler, 2014; USFWS, 2012). Via the intake of
microplastics into the food chain, human food chain included bioaccumulation of
toxic compounds happen; Human biomonitoring study indicates that plastic
compounds are already present in human blood cells (Koch and Calafat, 2009).
However, there is still hope. In 2008 the
Environmental Cleanup Coalition was formed in order to address this pollution.
The cause also joined independent companies like 4ocean. This company makes a
bracelet out of recycled materials and promise to remove one pound of ocean
trash per time. Our support on this cause will be crucial in the years to come.
Start now!
References
4Ocean. Retrieved
01/ 04/ 2018, from:
https://4ocean.com/
Day HR, Shaw GD, Ignell ES. (1988). The quantitative
distribution and characteristics of neuston plastic in the North Pacific
Ocean. NOAA.
Efferth Thomas, Norbert W Paul. (2017). Threats to
human health by great ocean garbage patches. The Lancet Planetary Health,
p. 301-303.
Kaminari A.E. (2017). Microplastics in the marine
environment. TheMindofNature. Retrieved 01/ 04/ 2018, from: https://themindofnature.wixsite.com/themindofnature/single-post/2017/12/21/Microplastics-in-the-marine-environment
Koch HM , Calafat AM. (2009). Human body burdens of
chemicals used in plastic manufacture. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci,
p. 2063-2078.
MacArthur Ellen Foundation. (2016). The new plastics
economy . World ecnomic forum.
Schuyler AQ. (2014). Ingestion of Marine Debris by
Sea Turtles. PHD thesis - University of Queensland.
USFWS-U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. (2012). Discarded
Plastics Distress Albatross Chicks. Retrieved 01/ 04/ 2018, from:
https://www.fws.gov/news/blog/index.cfm/2012/10/24/Discarded-plastics-distress-albatross-chicks
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