In the world there are seven islands of plastic, which are the result of approximately 8 million tons of waste. These are floating dumps of waste, debris and plastic that accumulate and become trapped in ocean currents. These islands are made up of debris of various sizes, but above all billions of microplastics that are scattered everywhere, from the surface to the bottom of the sea.
Creation
Plastic islands originate from the garbage we dump, both on land and in rivers; it ends up descending towards the seas and oceans and then reaches the marine currents that, with the help of the wind, move large amounts of garbage and regroup it in areas of eddies or vortices, or in areas where the currents are reduced.
The 7 marine “monsters”
In the world, 7 garbage islands of alarming dimensions have been discovered. This is a list that goes from the most recent, found in the Sargasso Sea, to the largest and first discovered, known as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.
- Sargasso Garbage Slick: It is located in the Sargasso Sea and was discovered in an expedition to the Atlantic area.
- Arctic Garbage Patch: Discovered in 2013 in the Barents Sea, in the Arctic Circle, it is the smallest plastic island compared to the other 6.
- Indian Ocean Garbage Patch: Although its existence was hypothesized, it was discovered in 2010 and has an extension of more than 2 km2 and 10,000 debris per km2.
- South Atlantic garbage patch: It is located between South America and southern Africa, and extends for more than 1 million km2.
- North Atlantic garbage patch: Discovered in 1972, it is the second largest. It has around 4 million km2 and a density of up to 200,000 waste per km2.
- South Pacific garbage patch: It is located off the coasts of Chile and Peru, and with an area of about 1.6 million km2 it is 3 times larger than France.
- Great Pacific Garbage Patch: Located between California and the Hawaiian Archipelago, it is the largest plastic island and was discovered in 1997 by captain and oceanographer Charles Moore. It measures 3.4 million km²; And according to the United Nations Environment Program, being fed by a ton of waste a day, it is growing so large that it will soon be visible from space.
Microplastics
Debris in garbage patches or islands is made up primarily of pieces of plastic less than five millimeters in size, called microplastics, which are often the result of larger plastic debris breaking into pieces due to exposure to environmental elements. such as sunlight, wind, and waves, or from microplastics that are made in this size, such as microbeads in some personal care products, or microfibers in synthetic clothing. Although it is still debated from what size they can be considered microplastics, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration uses the parameter of less than 5 mm in diameter to classify them.
Impact on fauna
Although plastic islands are found in the middle of the ocean, they affect the entire planet. Its consequences are real, and we can already see them directly in our environment.
Plastics have a very low rate of degradation. That means they spend decades or even centuries floating in the sea, harming not only marine flora and fauna, but also humans through the food chain.
Apart from visual pollution, those who really suffer the first consequences are marine animals. According to WWF (World Wildlife Fund), more than 700 marine species are affected by the plastic that is lodged in the oceans each year.
Sunlight is in charge of degrading plastic objects, resulting in their fragmentation into smaller pieces, among which are microplastics, of which a large part remains below the surface of the sea. Animals such as sea turtles, seals, dolphins, whales, fish and crustaceans mistake plastic pieces for food and swallow them, causing internal damage that can lead to death.
In addition, entanglements, suffocation and strangulation of the fauna occur, having a great impact on the birds. Fishing line or plastic scraps can close their snouts causing malnutrition, or get stuck in their extremities causing deep damage.
Fishing gear represents another problem that directly affects them. Once the fishermen leave them forgotten, what is known as “ghost fishing” is created, so the abandoned nets continue to function and capture large amounts of fish causing their death. In this way, mortality levels rise and therefore, many of the marine animals begin to disappear.
Conclusion
We can see how pollution has evolved to such an extent that we are destroying our own planet without realizing it. Despite the efforts of many foundations and companies to try to help, cleaning rivers and seas, it is not enough because this is a problem that has been present for more than 40 years.
There is a great lack of interest on the part of society to save the planet, because despite the fact that there are people who are aware of the problem of plastic islands, very few make the effort to prevent it from continuing to increase. Since we were little, they have told us how we should not throw garbage in the street, because it is wrong, but they do not explain why and this is the reason.
From straws to large plastic containers they harm the environment. Every day we see packages and plastic bags full of garbage on the streets, but nobody does anything to avoid or counteract the negative impact of some irresponsible human beings on the planet.
The contamination of this material not only affects the flora and fauna but also ourselves, since studies have proven that humans are ingesting microplastics without knowing it, so it is no longer just plastic floating in the ocean, but plastic. affecting life in general on the planet.
“The greatest threat to our planet is the belief that someone else will save it”
–Robert Swan, the first man in history to walk both the North and South poles.