The five major waste swirls and their possible elimination
Five huge garbage patches have formed in our oceans in recent decades due to the enormous plastic pollution. The largest is the Great Pacific Garbage Patch (GPGP), which lies between Hawaii and California and has already reached the size of Central Europe. The environmental organization The Ocean Cleanup specializes in cleaning up the oceans and rivers that carry most of the plastic into the oceans. On 6 September 2024, the organization declared that the elimination of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch (GPGP) can be achieved within a decade at a cost of USD 7.5 billion. This announcement is the first time that both the cost and timeline for eliminating the environmental threat posed by the Great Pacific Garbage Patch in the Pacific Ocean have been set and gives cause for hope.
Summarized in brief
- There are around 180 million tons of plastic waste in all of the world's oceans, with around 11 million tons being added every year.
- According to Greenpeace International, a large proportion (around 80%) of plastic pollution originates on land and enters the oceans via rivers, wild landfills and microplastics from sewage treatment plants. The remaining 20 percent of waste comes from ships, boats and offshore platforms.
- It is one of the most pressing problems facing our oceans today, costing the world up to 2.5 trillion dollars a year in economic, industrial and environmental damage.
- The measures taken by the environmental organization The Ocean Cleanup show that the elimination of the GPGP is possible in 10 years with the current level of performance and at a cost of $7.5 billion.
- To rid the oceans of plastic, we need to prevent new plastic from entering the sea by cleaning up the most polluting rivers and building plastic pollution barriers.
- Data and modeling from the environmental organization indicate that elimination of the GPGP could be achieved in 5 years at a cost of $4 billion.
What happens to plastic in the oceans
Research results show that most plastic sinks to the seabed - on the one hand near the coast, on the other hand scientists have calculated that more than 56% of the waste lies at a depth of 200 to 11,000 meters on the seabed. This explains where the 180 million tons that are already in the oceans and the 11 million tons of plastic waste that enter them every year are located (source: NZZ 2022). Only a small proportion of the plastic, which mostly enters the sea through rivers, remains on the surface and then accumulates in one of the five huge garbage fields, all of which are located near the equator, due to the ocean currents:
- The largest, the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, lies between Hawaii and California.
- The second is located south of India(Indian Garbage Patch)
- South Pacific garbage vortex, which lies between New Zealand and South America
- The South Atlantic Gyre between South America and Africa is also huge
- The North Atlantic garbage vortex circles between North America and Europe
"To solve this problem, we must not only prevent more plastic from entering the ocean, but also clean up what is already there. The floating plastic that is trapped in the patches will circulate until it breaks down into smaller and smaller pieces that are increasingly difficult to remove and more easily misinterpreted as food by marine life. If the plastic continues to circulate, it will affect our ecosystems, our health and our economy for decades or even centuries," Ocean Cleanup explains in a press release.
The great Pacific garbage vortex
According to the environmental organization Ocean Cleanup, around 100 million kilograms of plastic are floating in the largest of the five whirlpools. That's around 160 pieces per person living on Earth. Around 92% of the floating plastic mass in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch consists of larger objects. Only around 8% of the mass is microplastic. However, these larger objects are constantly breaking up into smaller pieces that are much more difficult to clean up; the longer the problem persists, the worse it gets.
Annual costs of plastic pollution in our oceans
According to Ocean Cleanup, plastic pollution in our oceans costs the economy between 6 and 19 billion dollars every year - with an impact on tourism, fishing and aquaculture as well as on (government) cleaning measures. And that's not even taking into account the impact on our health and the marine ecosystem. Collecting plastic in rivers is much more cost-effective than dealing with the consequences downstream.
Habitat of some species
While the plastic pieces can be deadly for some animals such as seabirds, fish and turtles, they provide a protected habitat for other animals such as crabs and so-called neuston. Excitingly, researchers have found animals that can reproduce more strongly in these whirlpools, protected from predators, as National Geographic writes, and which should be given more consideration during cleanups, according to the scientists. These newly immigrated species are changing the existing ecosystems in a way that has not yet been researched.
WWF sounds the alarm: "No ocean can swallow this much plastic"
It is time to act
Boyan Slat, founder and CEO of The Ocean Cleanup, explains: "Clean oceans can be achieved in a manageable timeframe and at a manageable cost. Thanks to the hard work of the last 10 years, humanity now has the means to clean up the oceans. We have shown the world that the impossible is now possible. The only thing missing is who will make sure it gets done. We call on the world to consign the Great Pacific Garbage Patch to the history books. This environmental disaster has been left unresolved for too long, and for the first time we can tell the world what it will cost, what it will take and how long it could take. It's time for action."
