Every now and then we are reminded of the fact that there is indeed a vast patch of plastic floating in the Pacific Ocean, cast into a big hellish mess of waste by the currents. It’s one of those nice little things confirming that we have irreparably destroyed the planet over the course of a couple of hundred years.
Well, here’s a nice little update for you: that big ol’ patch of trash contains 16 times the amount of waste we thought it did. For the record, we already thought it contained quite a lot. A team of scientists have determined the patch is about 1.6 million square kilometres in area – about the size of Queensland – and contains about 78,000 tonnes of plastic.
The researchers estimate there is about 1.8 trillion individual pieces of plastic in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, the bulk of which are microplastics. Despite that, 92 percent of the total mass is made up of plastics 5cm or larger in diameter.
The methodology used by the researchers involved trawling plastics from the water and observing the affected area from above with a plane.
In addition to the fact the patch is significantly larger than anyone expected, the authors of the study conclude that the ocean plastic pollution in the patch “is increasing exponentially and at a faster rate than in surrounding waters.”
Is it all doom and gloom? Absolutely yes. That being said, The Ocean Cleanup Foundation said that they will use the research to contribute to their attempt to develop technologies which they claim would “clean up 50 per cent of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch in five years.”
Well, that’s something. Until then… it’s the size of France. Huh.
