The ocean plastic crisis
By: Billion Dollar Niche
Tags: Oceans, Marine Life, Environment, Ocean Cleanup, Ocean Plastic Pollution

Why it is so important to clean the ocean from plastic?

The world produces 300 million tons of plastic every year.

Plastic is very durable and that is what makes it great but plastic is terrible because of the exact same result almost every piece of plastic that ever made is still on the planet.

By 2050 when the planet population going to grow to almost 10 billion people, the world will produce triple the amount of plastic we produce today.

The problem with that is that most of this plastic ends up in the oceans and hurting our environment.

There are five main ocean gyres, a gyre is any large system of ocean currents particularly those who involved with large wind movement.

That means that we have one big ocean.

The great pacific garbage patch(GPGP) is the largest of the five offshore plastic accumulation zones in the world’s ocean.

It is located halfway between Hawaii and California.

It is estimated that 1.1 to 2.4 million tonnes of plastic are entering the ocean each year from rivers.

More than half of this plastic is less dense than water meaning that it will not sink once it encounters the sea.

The stronger, more buoyant plastics show resiliency in the marine environment, allowing them to be transported over extended distances.

They resist at the sea surface as they make their way offshore, transported by converging currents and finally accumulating in the patch.

Once these plastic enter the gyre, they are unlikely to leave the area until they degrade into smaller microplastics under the effects of sun, waves and Marin life.

As more and more plastics are discarded into the environment microplastic concentration in the great pacific garbage patch.

The great pacific garbage patch(GPGP) covers an estimated surface area of 1.6 million square kilometers,an area twice the size of Texas or three times the size of France.

How much plastic floats in the great pacific garbage patch?

The mass of the plastic in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch (GPGP) was estimated to be 1.8 trillion pieces of plastic in the patch that weigh approximately 80,000 tonnes, which is 4–16 times more than previous calculations. This weight is also equivalent to that of 500 Jumbo Jets.

What types of plastic floats in the great pacific garbage patch?

The vast majority of plastics retrieved were made of rigid or hard polyethylene (PE) or polypropylene (PP), or derelict fishing gear (nets and ropes particularly ).

Ranging in size from small fragments to larger objects and meter-sized fishing nets.

What are the effects on Marin life and humans?

Not only does plastic pollution in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch pose risks for the safety and health of marine animals, but there are health and economic implications for humans as well.

Impact on wildlife

Plastic has increasingly become a ubiquitous substance in the ocean.

Due to their size and color, animals confuse the plastic for food, causing malnutrition.

It poses entanglement risks and threatens their overall behavior, health, and existence.

Studies have shown that about 700 species have encountered marine debris, and 92% of these interactions are with plastic.

17% of the species affected by plastic are on the IUCB the international union for conservation of nature red list of threatened species.

Impact on humans and society.

Once plastic enters the marine food web, there is a possibility that it will contaminate the human food chain as well.

Efforts to clean and eradicate ocean plastic have also caused significant financial burdens

Affects the human food chain

through a process called bioaccumulation, chemicals in plastic will enter the body of the animal feeding on the plastic, and as the feeder become prey, the chemicals will pass to the predator — making their way op the web that includes humans.

These chemicals that affected the plastic feeders could then be present within the human as well.

Affects the economy.

The united nations reported that the approximate environmental damage caused by plastic marine ecosystems represent 13 billion USD.

This figure included the cost of beach cleanups and the financial incurred by fisheries.

What we can do to prevent it from spreading?

First of all, we as individuals can do a lot.

We can give our contribution and reduce the use of plastic, we can begin to separate garbage and recycle.

Every small contribution will have an impact.

Large corporations can start using recycled plastics for their products, and governments can impose heavy fines on companies that do not use recycled plastics, and those who use recycled plastics will enjoy tax benefits.

there are companies like 4ocean, 5gyres, and others, that takes an active part in the plastic ocean cleaning whit amazing technologies and a huge amount of volunteers and clean teams.

There is a company called the ocean cleanup

An amazing company that concentrates its efforts into cleaning the Great Pacific Garbage Patch whit amazing technologies, an wind, waves and current buoy that collects the ocean plastic.

The company market value is over 30 million dollars.

The CEO and founder Boyan Slat started the company at the age of 18 and doing an amazing job since then.

So the real question is what are you going to do about the ocean plastic crisis.??