4 ms·
There are natural "gyres" in the oceans that collect garbage - see this link for the "Great Pacific garbage patch" (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Pacifi
by mthmohan 9y ago
There are natural "gyres" in the oceans that collect garbage - see this link for the "Great Pacific garbage patch" (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Pacific_garbage_patch https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Pacific_garbage_patch). It's about the size of Texas and has a significant amount of plastic in it, although of smaller sizes. That would seem to be a great place to focus these collection and conversion efforts.
- DanBC 9y agoExcept even in those places the density of plastic is very low. > 200,000 pieces per square kilometer in the North Atlantic garbage patch. > 4 particles per cubic meter in the Great Pacific garbage patch. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Atlantic_garbage_patch https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Atlantic_garbage_patch https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Pacific_garbage_patch https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Pacific_garbage_patch It's a serious problem, but it's one that requires people to stop using so much plastic; to make sure they re-use plastic; and to make sure that plastics are recycled after use. Microbeads in cosmetics and microfibres from clothing are a huge problem.
- snarf21 9y agoMicrobeads in cosmetics and microfibres from clothing are a huge problem. So much this and I don't know that we really have an answer to fix this. This micro things are toxic to the entire aquatic ecosystem.
- kwhitefoot 9y agoPart of the answer is simply to stop using non-biodegradable stuff in cosmetics. It isn't difficult to do. All that is needed is an incentive like making inclusion of plastic micro-beads illegal. Isn't California considering doing that?
- snarf21 9y agoWow, that is encouraging. I hope that is true and gets passed. It could mean the end of yoga pants (they are good and bad) so I'm not sure how I feel about this. :)