A ticking time bomb
Where is it ???
What's the problem?? Its only Plastic...
- Plastic does not biodegrade but instead, breaks down into smaller pieces. The sun breaks down these plastics into tinier and tinier pieces, a process known as photodegradation. there are two main problems related to this fact(2,3):
- Plastic Debris in the water or shores can be ingested by marine animals causing choking, starvation, death, or entanglement of marine life.
- Plastics both leach out and absorb harmful pollutants. Those pollutants make our food toxic and affect other marine life.
- Only a specific kind of plastic can be recycled, like water bottles, and milk curtains.
- Garbage patches are huge! It’s difficult to determine an exact size as the trash is constantly moving with ocean currents and winds. The debris is spread across the surface of the water and all the way to the ocean floor.
- Marine debris can transport species from one place to another.for example, if a species invades a marine, it can completely mess up the food chain.
- The amount of debris may continue to grow as more and more debris enters our ocean each year. This growth will likely worsen current impacts on the environment, navigation, vessel safety, and the economy.
- The seafloor beneath the Great Pacific Garbage Patch may also be an underwater trash heap. Oceanographers and ecologists recently discovered that about 70% of marine debris actually sinks to the bottom of the ocean.
- Because microplastics are smaller than a pencil eraser, they are not immediately noticeable to the naked eye.
How does density tie into this problem?
Density is the number of particles(atoms) of a material per unit square area. The density of any material determines its ability to float/sink. The higher the density the less it will float.
When it comes to plastics it varies because there are many types of plastics and therefore the density changes from one type of plastic to the other. It affects the plastic floating ability and this is why the debris is spread across the surface of the water and from the surface all the way to the ocean floor. We can see that the ocean plastic litter float in different nights in the water and goes down all the way down like a huge column of debris.
Death of animals caught in fishing nets made of plastic
The "island"/ Patches in the Pacific ocean
Rescue teem is saving lives
how can we fix this?
In one of the articles, the writer stated that a prototype of the vulcanized rubber barrier will be tested in 2017, with a full-sized 100km (62-mile) barrier deployed by 2020 if trials go well.
But we can make a change on our own
- Better recycling: Use reusable items, like reusable straws, cups, bottles, bags, Ect.
- Better product design: Start producing and using eco-friendly materials that do degrade over time.
- Legislation: for example, ban plastic products that are most frequently bought like water bottles, plastic milk curtains, and more