The Great Pacific Garbage Patch (GPGP) is the largest accumulation of ocean plastic in the world.
It is made up of two garbage patches that feed into each other: the Western Garbage Patch near Japan and the Eastern Garbage Patch between Hawaii and California.
The two are linked by the North Pacific Subtropical Convergence Zone where the cooler Arctic currents converge with the warmer Southern Pacific currents.
The GPGP is a large mass of plastic and other trash that pollutes the Pacific Ocean, distributes toxic chemicals and harms marine wildlife.
Alarming Statistics
Approximately 80 million kilograms of plastic debris
The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is 3 times the size of continental France
Mircroplastics represent the majority of the 1.8 trillion pieces inside the Garbage Patch
The Garbage Patch has been increasing exponentially since the 1970s
Solutions
The Ocean Cleanup:
The Ocean Cleanupwas the first organization to attempt a large scale cleanup of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch and they used a huge barrier to trap trash as it floats into it.
They have made over six prototypes of the floater.
However, their first mission on the ocean made them realize that the floater was too slow and the plastic drifted away before it could be collected by the barrier.
Using the natural forces of ocean to speed the barrier, the group was able to make a successful model.
This model explains how the waves and currents of the Pacific Ocean affect the huge, drifting mass of plastic that is the GPGP.
They have multiple fleets between the coasts of Hawaii and California that collect at the same time and they plan on reducing the amount of trash by 50% in 5 years.
The accumulated trash will then be recycled and made into sellable products such as headphones, chairs, or phones.
Bioremediation:
Bioremediation is the natural process by which naturally occurring microorganisms and plants, clean up various environments by degrading or breaking down harmful waste products and pollutants into non-toxic substances or less toxic substances.
It is a natural environmental remediation technique used to clean up various types of pollution in different environments, including water pollution.
Bioremediation may be used to attack specific soil contaminants, such as the degradation of chlorinated hydrocarbons.
An example of a more general approach is the cleanup of oil spills by adding nitrate and/or sulfate fertilizers to aid the decomposition of crude oil.
It is one of the safest ways to clean up the environment, and is relatively inexpensive. A lot of recent research and advancements have been made in bioremediation,
making it a promising alternative to conventional pollution cleanup methods.
