The Great Pacific Garbage Patch
By Eoghan,Serena And Hazel
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The GPGP is a patch of rubbish and plastic located on the Pacific OceanLoading...
What Is It?Loading...
The GPGP is the biggest of 5 ocean patchesLoading...
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The Great Pacific Garbage Patch contains 1.8 trillion pieces of plasticLoading...
The Great Pacific Garbage Patch covers a distance of 1.6 million km squaredLoading...
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Where is it?Loading...
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It is located between Hawaii and CaliforniaLoading...
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It's located here!Loading...
About the GPGP
The patch can vary over time depending on the time of year
The patch was found in 1997 by Charles Moore
To biodegrade plastic undergoes a process called photo-degradation,where it decays when exposed to sunlight then it breaks down into smaller and smaller pieces.
Animal Effects
Sea Turtles often confuse plastic for Food like jellyfish.
Plastic accounts for around 76% of a sea turtles diet
1 million seabirds and 100,000 marine mammals are effected each year
The Clean Up
Models show that a full-scale cleanup could clean 50% of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch in just five years. After fleets of systems are deployed into every ocean gyre, combined with source reduction, The Ocean Cleanup projects to be able to remove 90% of ocean plastic by 2040.
Around 46% of The GPGP is fishing nets!
Interesting Facts
The GPGP is roughly three times the size of France
The GPGP contains 1.8 trillion pieces of plastic, that's roughly 250 pieces of plastic for every person on the planet
How long until it's gone?
Milk Carton: 3 Months
Cigarette Filter: 5 Years
Plastic Bag: 20 Years
Tin Can: 50 Years
Rubber Boot: 80 Years
Aluminium Can: 200 Years
Disposable Nappy: 450 Years
Plastic Bottles: 450 Years
Fishing Line: 600 Years
Glass Bottles: 1,000,000+ Years
