The Great Pacific Garbage Patch

The Great Pacific Garbage Patch, also known as the Pacific Trash Vortex, is a massive collection of garbage that was thrown into the Pacific Ocean. The garbage patch was formed by a gyre, which is a large system of ocean current, sweeping garbage and trapping in the middle of the pacific. The contents of the garbage include probably the largest collection of plastics, chemical wastes, and other debris, usually those that cannot be decomposed easily. It is currently the largest collection of garbage in the world. The garbage patch is growing; some even speculate that soon it might reach the size of Texas. It presents as a hazard to marine life. Sea animals may become trapped or poisoned, even the life under water is in jeopardy because most of the garbage eventually travels down to the sea floor, damaging its ecosystem. Boats and submarine equipment that travels through the great garbage patch might not even leave unscathed. It also poses as a threat to local tourism, namely the tourism in Hawaii. Many islands of Hawaii are currently being affected by large amount of trash that was shot out from the gyres, affecting their once beautiful beaches. Some beaches are buried under several foot of trash, while others are riddled with millions of grain like plastics (otherwise known as “plastic sand”) that was proven to be near impossible to clean up. International treaties that prohibit dumping at sea must be enforced to combat this issue. But that alone is not enough to solve this issue. Eventually the wastes have to be cleaned up, and that might prove to be even more challenging. However, since the main source of garbage is from lands, we must first start with managing how we manage garbage locally.