It’s no secret that our oceans are polluted, but over the past few months specialists have discovered something especially alarming. They are way more polluted than we thought. The Great Pacific Garbage Patch (GPGP) is a cluster of plastic that floats off the coast of California. It is also sadly known as the largest accumulated plastic zone on the face of the Earth. Over the years scientists have conducted research as to exactly how much pollution is located there, but due to a higher scale expedition by The Ocean Cleanup, it has been concluded that the Great Pacific Garbage Patch is, “nearly sixteen times higher than a previous study,” (The Ocean Cleanup Foundation).
The article written by The Ocean Cleanup was accepted on March 5, 2018 and was later published online on March 22, 2018. The news has caused an uproar as today’s scientists puzzle over the issue. After all, the plastic is slowly creeping into our food due to its consumption by wildlife, and slowly killing off coral reefs one by one. The worst part? The plastic likely won’t ever disintegrate, but rather break down into smaller and smaller pieces for hundreds of decades. The broken down plastic bits are referred to as microplastics. As described by Diana Parker from the Marine Debris program, “Imagine tiny, tiny microplastics just swirling around, mixing in the water column (area from surface to seafloor) from waves and wind, that’s always moving and changing with the currents. These are tiny plastics that you might not even see if you sailed through the middle of the garbage patch, they’re so small,” These tiny fragments of plastics are spreading throughout our water sources quickly, causing the frantic search for a solution to spread like a virus.
So, how did we previously estimate so inaccurately? The issue began in the 1970’s when studies were run by dragging small sampling nets through parts of the ocean. It collected a fair amount of plastic. However, in recent times it’s been discovered that this is ineffective because it leaves out a significant portion of ocean debris. The trawls used in previous studies are only capable of collecting small particles, in turn, leaving out the many clusters of larger ocean plastic.
During the summer of 2015, The Ocean Cleanup launched a mega expedition; 30 boats launched simultaneously followed by many small nets, and two large trawls. They brought back an astounding 1.2 million plastic samples. However, they realized that larger debris was often more scattered. Their new plan was scanning an area twenty times larger than the previous expedition. Instead of traveling by boat they decided to scan the water by plane. Their first aerial surveys were held using former military aircrafts that were converted into high-tech research platforms. They were equipped with modern sensors that reconstructed the 3-D shapes of large debris and then calculated their mass. It was concluded that the GPGP measures 1.6 million kilometers in total (80,000 tons of plastic). That would calculate to two hundred and fifty fragments for every human in the world, and is estimated to be as large as three times the size of France.
Boyan Slat, the founder of the Ocean Cleanup Foundation which started in 2013, has introduced a brilliant idea. What if we don’t go to the plastic, but let the plastic come to us? They discovered that plastic concentrates in these areas due to natural ocean currents, causing the plastic particles to cycle through over and over. So he introduced the idea of an “ocean cleanup machine.” Such a machine would move with the currents and capture the big and small debris that floats the surface towards it for later collection. Better yet, no nets allow marine life to be unharmed during the process. Slat first introduced his idea at a high school science fair, and then later during a TED talk. His simplistic idea moved millions and is the populations biggest hope for our oceans.
They have tested and retested their prototypes. Later this year, The Ocean Cleanup first deployment will be released. As stated by the Ocean Cleanup themselves, “The Ocean Cleanup Team will test, analyze, and work quickly ensuring we meet our first cleanup system deployment deadline of mid-2018.”
However, the issue still remains that the plastic concentrations are growing every year. One way to diminish the plastic population is to start using biodegradable plastics. One of the main reasons we have so much plastic, and that it’s so dangerous, is its inability to break down completely. An ideal biodegradable plastic would break down with ease, and contain only safe natural ingredients.
Scientists from the Center of Sustainable Chemical Technologies, (CSCT) have created a plastic made from nothing but sugar and carbon dioxide. The plastic is a kind of polycarbonate, a durable plastic commonly used in some eyeglass lenses and CDs. However, unlike most polycarbonates, their plastic does not include the resistant petrochemicals allowing them to break down naturally. Their plastic also doesn’t include the potent chemicals found in most plastics such as BPA.
The ocean’s future hasn’t looked as clean as it does today in a long time. Thanks to the creative mind of Boyan Slat, we can take a deep breath and relax knowing that our world is in good hands. And, in the meanwhile, we’re cleaning up our act too. With biodegradable innovations we might be able to clean up the rest of the earth as well.
By: Riley Medina, 2024 – World News Write
Photo credit: Nature
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