Ocean garbage patches exist in just about every body of water across the world. From the Pacific to the Atlantic, and from the Mediterranean to even the landlocked Great Lakes.
One thing that unites people from all over our planet might be our love of stuff. Stuff like plastics, especially single-use, disposable, cheaply-made products have to go somewhere, and millions of tons of them end up in our oceans.
But a garbage patch doesn’t always mean thousands of nautical miles of thick layers of trash like an artificial island. One of the reasons they can be so hard to clean up is because they can take many forms such as small bits of plastics bobbing around in the vast sea around it.
As these plastics continue to break down into smaller and smaller pieces, they become microplastics. These pieces become harder for us to see, but even more dangerous for marine life. Animals swallow them thinking it’s food, causing short and long-term damage to their bodies and our ecosystems.
Eventually, currents take our ocean to the shoreline where microplastics negatively impact tourism, recreation, natural beauty, and a healthy coastal ecosystem. Scientists are even starting to observe abnormal levels of plastic and other pollutants in the water we drink, food we eat, and even in our blood.
Cleaning up our oceans is a monumental task, and the easiest way to start handling this mess is to stop making it worse. And that’s exactly what consumers are asking for – more choices for high-quality biodegradable, compostable, and reusable materials, instead of the same-old single-use and disposable plastics for everything.
A plastic-free future is not only possible, it’s a priority held by people all around the world.
Steady on,
Rob
I’ll tell you what scares me is plastic. Plastic bags and plastic bottles and these things. Why does my water have to be in a bloody plastic bottle? The landfill and the ocean. And I don’t know, I’m just terrified with the proliferation of plastic.
- Helen Mirren, London, UK.
