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Photo Credit: Scott LaPierre

While it is the antithesis of a natural phenomena, the Eastern Pacific Garbage Patch is a new destination for environmental exploration and it is drawing the attention of both researchers and adventure seekers. The floating patch of garbage is twice the size of Texas and is located somewhere in remote Pacific waters between Hawaii and California. Ocean currents have helped form this garbage island as plastic from all over the world is discarded and transported into our oceans. Out of the 260 million tons of plastic produced per year, 10 percent ends up in oceans, particularly in areas such as the Pacific Patch. This summer, three different voyages have the patch as their destination point. Both expeditions plan to document the pollution disaster in order to study and provide information that will inevitably call for a global awareness.

The Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego, launched the 174 foot New Horizon on August 2nd. The Kaisei, the expedition’s 150 foot flagship, departed August 4th from San Francisco. A third, and perhaps most innovative vessel, will depart from San Francisco as well. David de Rothschild, an environmentalist and founder of Adventure Ecology, will sail the Plastiki, a sail boat made entirely of recycled plastic water bottles, out to the patch. He hopes that his journey will demonstrate a needed change in the way we use and view plastic.

It has been estimated that approximately 70 percent of the plastic at the site has broken down and sunk below the visible patch. The pieces saturate the ocean water, creating a toxic zone. Some particles are ingested by marine life, and the rest reaches ocean sediment or remains suspended in the water. The Scripps projects hope to understand more precisely the rate and amount of this toxic distribution so that clean up options can be evaluated.

While illegal trash dumping has been a large contributor to the problem, most of the waste has been traced back to land sources. Rivers, streams, storm drains, gutters, and beaches contaminated or littered with plastic are the source for the buildup in open waters. Developed nations consume and produce large amounts that evade proper disposal. The problem is even more complicated in developing nations, where the people have no means of recycling plastic products. The Kaisei project believes that their efforts will help attribute value to finding alternatives to plastic, or providing incentives to profit from recycling efforts.

More on this topic visit National Geographic

Follow the Plastiki on its voyage to the Patch and beyond…..

Follow the Kaisei expedition here