Pacific Garbage Patch, 3 x the Size of France

Plastic and the ocean, it’s almost like these two words have become synonymous with each other. You cant mention the one without the other being brought up. The thing is there’s a very clear reason as to why that relationship exists and you would assume the general populace would be clued up on just how dire the issue of plastic pollution was. Well, you would think so at least. Turns out even the top dogs, the plastic pollution pioneers are yet to fully understand the magnitude at which it is affecting the ocean and everything in it. Right now, a huge, swirling pile of trash in the Pacific Ocean is growing faster than expected and is now three times the size of France, covering roughly 1.6 million square kilometres in size — up to 16 times bigger than previous estimates, according to a recently published study.   Roughly half of the 80’000 metric tons of trash bobbing about aimlessly at sea is comprised of “ghost nets” the term given to discarded fishing nets, entangling countless life forms. Beyond this, it is believed that 20% of the total volume of trash in the gyre found its way in there via the […]