Environmental Problems: Pacific Garbage Patch

Posted 23 March 2018.
New findings show that the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, a rotating soup of plastic in the north Pacific Ocean, contains up to 16 times more waste than previous surveys were able to detect.

Posted 22 March 2018.
It’s not all bottles and straws—the patch is mostly abandoned fishing gear.

The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is the largest accumulation of ocean plastic in the world and is located between Hawaii and California. Scientists of The Ocean Cleanup Foundation have conducted the most extensive analysis ever of this area.

In 2012, an 18-year-old Dutch entrepreneur told a TEDx audience he was designing a device to clean-up the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.

There are many things we can do to limit the waste that ends up in our oceans. The solutions are relatively simple, according to Dr Thornton. ‘Avoidance of materials is something we should all focus on.