An area known as the North Pacific Subtropical Convergence Zone has become home to a huge bobbing debris field. Ocean currents swirl everything from plastic water bottles, disposable diapers, and discarded fishing gear into one floating island of trash.
Sometimes called the “Plastic Vortex” or the “Garbage Patch” this area of polluted ocean is about 1,600 kilometres west of the coast of California.
An article published by National Geographic News (July 31, 2009) says that, “As much as 10 percent of the 260 million tonnes of plastic produced annually ends up in the oceans, much of it in trash vortices like the Pacific garbage patch.”
Plastic Waste Travels the Globe
Not much is known about the mass of trash so scientists have set sail to conduct research on it. The expedition, named Project Kaisei, is aiming to study how the garbage affects marine life. According to BBC News (August 4, 2009), “Ultimately the organizers hope to clear the plastic and recycle it for use as fuel and new products.”
Unfortunately, a lot of the plastic breaks down into smaller chunks because of the Sun’s ultraviolet radiation. These tiny pieces may not be recoverable.
Project co-founder Mary Crowley told the San Jose Mercury News: “This is a problem that is kind of out of sight, out of mind, but it is having devastating impacts on the ocean. I felt we needed to do something about it.”
Origins of Pacific Waste
Pretty much anything that is left behind on a beach is going to be captured by tides and taken out to sea. This includes shopping bags, broken air mattresses, cigarette butts, plastic umbrellas, etc. In addition, a lot of trash is discharged overboard from merchant ships and fishing boats sometimes cut snagged nets loose.
Paul Rogers, writing in the San Jose Mercury News, reports on other sources: “Scientists believe trash - most of it plastic that won’t decompose - washes down storm drains and rivers from places like the (San Francisco) Bay Area or Japan, eventually drifting into several large ocean vortices where currents swirl like water in a drain.”
Goals of Project Kaisei
Scientists on two sailing ships will study the garbage raft for a month; the Kaisei (the ship’s name means “Ocean Planet” in Japanese) and the New Horizon from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography left in early August 2009.
According to the Project Kaisei team its members will:
- “Study and document the marine debris found in this area of the Pacific Ocean;
- “Test catch methods for removing the debris;
- “Conduct research on the chemical interactions of marine debris…and select fishes and wildlife related to persistent organic pollutants (POPs);
- “Understand the needs required to undertake an eventual large scale clean-up of the waste material; and,
- “Test technologies for conversion into an economically viable by-product: diesel fuel.”
Ultimately, the solution to the problem is to keep the waste material from getting into the ocean in the first place. Programs banning plastic shopping bags and drinks bottles are making a start, but a massive public education program will be needed to get people to stop discarding plastic goods.
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