Seven facts about plastic in the ocean

When you hear about the great Pacific garbage patch the image that emerges is of a floating island of rubber duckies, plastic bottles and plastic bags that pile up and create a kind of iceberg of garbage.

The image is not very skewed from reality, but in fact the island of garbage is not solid and aggregated. The great Pacific garbage patch is more a loose collection of small pieces of plastic around the North Pacific gyre, a vortex that water, thanks to four ocean currents and the Earth's rotation sucks marine debris. However, this site comprises the largest part of the Northern Pacific and is the largest ecosystem on the planet.

When viewed from above, does not see any plastic floating in the area and the waters appear to be crystal clear and clean. But the truth is that within any one of the five turns of the planet's oceans, there are distinct clusters of trash that rotate continuously to the flavor of ocean currents affect the life that dwells underwater.

Find out about seven aspects to know about plastic in the oceans.

1. most of the plastic is concentrated in five Ocean gyres subtropitais

Our oceans are not completely contaminated with garbage. Although it exists in large amounts, most of the plastic is concentrated in five major subtropical gyres. Outside these zones is rare to see floating plastic or catch him in fishing nets.

2. it is difficult to quantify the entire existing plastic in the oceans

No one knows for sure the amount of existing plastic in the oceans and this is one of the main problems. Part of the reason for not be able to know for sure how much is that existing data are based on the plastic that you see floating around. However, most of these debris are dense enough to sink, which means that it is not known the exact quantity of submerged plastic in the oceans. To compound the problem, many of these plastics at the end of a certain time disintegrate by action of biophysical conditions.

A recent study, referred to Grist, points to the existence of 40,000 tons of plastic floating in the oceans, but this value corresponds to only 1 percent of what scientists expect to find. The scientific community assumes that the remaining 99% or sink or are ingested by marine animals.

3. the projects in-depth cleaning of the oceans are inefficient

The oceans are vast and intricate sites: only the North Pacific gyre has almost twice the size of the United States. The amount of funds, material and human resources to do a deep cleaning to the oceans would be outrageous, not to mention the emissions of greenhouse gases that would imply. Additionally, the small particles of plastic, the most harmful, are impossible to clean.

4. one of the solutions to the problem is to find the points of issue of plastic

Many oceanographers consider positively the idea of picking up trash before it gets to the oceans. An example of a system that performs this function is the Baltimore Water Wheel, a water vehicle that collects the garbage at the port of Baltimore before this go into the sea.

The solution is simple and can be ecological if renewable energy powered. One of the tasks that scientists now have at hand is to map the main points of issue of garbage into the sea, as major harbors and rivers.

5. can be collected tons of trash from the beaches in a day

Waste collection events in beaches are quite efficient, although he did not appear to be a one-day action can collect tons of garbage and also help the oceanic conservation centres to identify the sources and types of debris that are washed up on shore.

6. The cleaning solutions start at Earth

One aspect that gathers the consensus of the scientific community regarding the cleaning and preservation of the oceans is that solutions must begin on the ground. If a lesser amount of plastic is produced and consumed and material recycling rate increase, the lower the amount of garbage coming to the oceans. The ban of plastic bags and the Elimination of plastic microspheres of several cosmetic products is a positive step, but not enough.

7. There is a light at the end of the tunnel for the oceans

The oceans are incredibly resilient ecosystems and marine protected areas are, for the most part, extremely successful. If somehow possible to stem the flow of plastic to the sea, the oceans will eventually return to health levels of the past.

Foto: Best Planet / Creative Commons

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