Why is the Great Pacific Garbage Patch a problem?

Debris trapped in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch is harmful to marine life. For example, loggerhead turtles consume plastic bags because they have a similar appearance to jellyfish when they are floating in the water. In turn, the plastic can hurt, starve, or suffocate the turtle.

Where is the Great Pacific Ocean garbage patch?

The GPGP is actually two patches of trash, one in the Western Pacific, closer to Japan, and the one in the Eastern Pacific that we are much more familiar with, between Hawaii and California.

Can you stand on Great Pacific Garbage Patch?

The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is the world’s largest collection of floating trash—and the most famous. It lies between Hawaii and California and is often described as “larger than Texas,” even though it contains not a square foot of surface on which to stand. It cannot be seen from space, as is often claimed.

What is the solution to the Great Pacific garbage patch?

5 Solutions to the Great Pacific Garbage Patch 1. Stop using disposable plastics. 2. Create educational campaigns. 3. Subsidize the transition to biodegradable products at a national level. 4. Create new collection platforms that will filter the plastics from the water. 5. Use the Garbage Patch to create new products.

What caused the Great Pacific garbage patch?

The Great Pacific garbage patch formed gradually as a result of ocean or marine pollution gathered by ocean currents. It occupies a relatively stationary region of the North Pacific Ocean bounded by the North Pacific Gyre in the horse latitudes.

What are the effects of the Great Pacific garbage patch?

The great Pacific garbage patch causes great harm to the environment. The large amounts of trash destroy the ocean surface, pollute the environment because of chemicals and toxins and tangles up and covers large parts of beaches and coasts to which garbage pieces float.

What to do about the Great Pacific garbage patch?

Reduce plastic use. Reduce it in every aspect of your life.

  • Eat less ocean harvested fish. Yep,the majority of TGPGP,about 705,000 tons,comes from lost,broken or discarded fishing nets.
  • Participate in beach clean-ups. Join a Surfrider sponsored beach clean-up and pick trash off the ground when you see it.
  • Support Algalita Marine Research Foundation.