The Great Pacific Garbage Patch (GPGP) also described as the Pacific trash vortex, is a gyre of marine debris particles in the north central Pacific Ocean. It is located about halfway between Hawaii and California. It’s the largest accumulation zone for ocean plastics on Earth.

Great Pacific Garbage Patch:

• Twice the size of Texas, the Great Pacific Garbage Patch stretches for hundreds of miles across the North Pacific Ocean and is one of the most frightening examples of just how much human activity is violating the planet.
• Marine debris and pollution consisting mostly of plastic trash is accumulating in oceans around the world.
• The patch is characterized by exceptionally high relative pelagic concentrations of plastic, chemical sludge, and other debris that have been trapped by the currents of the North Pacific Gyre.
• Microplastics make up 94 percent of an estimated 1.8 trillion pieces of plastic in the patch. But that only amounts to eight percent of the total tonnage.
• As it turns out, of the 79,000 metric tons of plastic in the patch, most of it is abandoned fishing gear—not plastic bottles or packaging drawing headlines today.

The causal factors of GPGP are:

• The cause of GPGP is entirely due to human beings.
• Merchant ships expel cargo, sewage, used medical equipment, and other types of waste that contain plastic into the ocean.
• The largest ocean-based source of plastic pollution is discarded fishing gear (including traps and nets).
• Continental plastic litter such as Food Wrappers & Containers, Bottles and container caps, Plastic bags, Straws and stirrers etc. enters the ocean largely through storm-water runoff.
• Micro plastics (particles of less than 5 mm) such as those used in scrubbers and cosmetics
• Unlike POPs (Persistent Organic Pollutants) or chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), Plastic pollution has received little attention in terms of international agreements.

Impact on marine and human life:-

• Affects movement of marine organisms:
  • Ghostnets, a term coined to describe purposely discarded or accidentally lost netting, drift through the ocean, entangling whales, seals, and turtles.
  • An estimated 100,000 marine animals are strangled, suffocated, or injured by plastics every year.
• Direct harm to species:
  • Of the 1.5 million Laysan albatrosses that inhabit Midway, nearly all are likely to have plastic in their digestive system.
  • Approximately one-third of their chicks die, and many of those deaths are due to being fed plastic by their parents.
  • Fish and whales may also mistake the plastic as a food source.
• Indirect harm to species via the food chain:
  • Besides the particles danger to wildlife, on the microscopic level the floating debris can absorb organic pollutants from seawater, including PCBs, DDT, and PAHs.
  • These toxin-containing plastic pieces are also eaten by jellyfish, which are then eaten by fish. Many of these fish are then consumed by humans, resulting in their ingestion of toxic chemicals
• Spreading invasive species:
  • Marine plastics also facilitate the spread of invasive species that attach to floating plastic in one region and drift long distances to colonize other ecosystems. Research has shown that this plastic marine debris affects at least 267 species worldwide.
• Affects Food-chain:
  • Because the garbage blocks sunlight, algae is not growing as it should. With less algae, the entire food chain is experiencing a negative disruption.
  • In addition, the plastics floating in the ocean are leeching harmful chemicals into the water, which are likely entering the food chain.

Measures to tackle plastic pollution:

• Local actions are required for mitigating plastic pollution, using mechanisms such as bans on plastic bags, maximum daily limits for emissions into watersheds, and incentives for fishing gear retrieval.
• Countries should come together to establish measurable reduction targets for plastic waste. A meaningful international agreement—one with clearly defined waste reduction targets is the need of the hour.
• Effective policies must take into account all stages of the lifecycle of plastic—connecting producers to users and ultimately to waste managers.
• Nonprofits like 5 Gyres are now pushing an agenda toward public awareness, corporate responsibility and the idea of a circular economy — an economy that focuses on keeping waste to a minimum while maximizing materials’ use.
• Fossil fuel subsidies incentivise the plastic market. Hence, Countries should end fossil fuel subsidies. Annually, 4–8% of oil is used to produce raw plastic.
• India has a major problem dealing with plastics, particularly single-use shopping bags that reach dumping sites, rivers and wetlands along with other waste.
• The most efficient way to deal with the pollution is to control the production and distribution of plastics.
• Banning single-use bags and making consumers pay a significant amount for the more durable ones is a feasible solution.
• Enforcing segregation of waste will retrieve materials and greatly reduce the burden on the environment.
• Waste separation can be achieved in partnership with the community, and presents a major employment opportunity.
• Eco-friendly substitutes (cloth/paper/jute bags, leaves/areca leaf plates, paper straws) should be developed. For this, scientific and financial support (soft loans and subsidies) is required.

Conclusion:

Marine plastic pollution is a “planetary crisis,” and we should hope for a “Paris-style” global treaty aimed at tackling it. We cannot transform our world into a ‘plastic planet’. What is needed is collective public effort to stop plastic pollution and safeguard our ecosystem/biodiversity.