The Impacts and Dangers of The Great Pacific Garbage Patch

(National Geographic, 2023)

A United Nations Environment Assembly Report

Blake Lange
Table of Contents

Executive Summary 2

The Impacts of Ocean Pollution and The Great Pacific Garbage Patch 2

Origins of Pacific Ocean Pollution 2

The Great Pacific Garbage Patch 3

Potential Actions That Could Protect Ecosystems and Humans 5

Implementing Laws/Regulations 5

Management of Existing Plastic Ocean Pollution 5

Conclusion 6

References 7

Figures
Figure 1 .......................................................................................................................................................3
Figure 2 .......................................................................................................................................................4
Figure 3 .......................................................................................................................................................5
Executive Summary
The Great Pacific Garbage Patch poses a major threat to the health of marine ecosystems and
continues to grow exponentially. Since the mass production of plastics in the twentieth century,
human pollution is less biodegradable than ever before. Due to ocean currents, a majority of
plastics that pollute the sea conglomerate in a region of the Pacific Ocean between California
and Hawaii. This zone of heightened oceanic plastic pollution is called The Great Pacific Garbage
Patch. Efforts are currently ongoing to remove existing floating plastic ocean pollution from The
Great Pacific Garbage Patch, but this alone is insufficient. Tariffs, embargoes, and international
trade agreements are particular solutions to oceanic pollution that can be enacted quickly in
the near future. We must act as a global community to protect our oceans for existing wildlife
and future generations.

The Impacts of Ocean Pollution and The Great Pacific Garbage Patch
Origins of Pacific Ocean Pollution
Humans have been manufacturing, consuming and disposing of plastics for generations. Many
of these plastics take longer to break down and decompose than multiple human life spans. As
a result, much of the plastics used by humans end up wherever people don’t have to directly
deal with it. Sometimes the plastics end up in landfills. A small fraction ends up being recycled.
But more often than not the discarded plastic makes its way into the ocean.
Around 60% of the plastic produced is less dense than seawater (Lebreton et al.). When
introduced into the marine environment, buoyant plastic can be transported by surface
currents and winds, recaptured by coastlines, degraded into smaller pieces by the action of sun,
temperature variations, waves and marine life, or lose buoyancy and sink. A portion of these
buoyant plastics however, is transported offshore and enters oceanic gyres. A considerable
accumulation zone for buoyant plastic was identified in the eastern part of the North Pacific
Subtropical Gyre. This area has been described as ‘a gyre within a gyre’ and commonly referred
to as the ‘Great Pacific Garbage Patch’. The relatively high concentrations of ocean plastic
occurring in this region are mostly attributed to a connection to substantial ocean plastic
sources in Asia through the Kuroshio Extension (KE) current system as well as intensified fishing
activity in the Pacific Ocean (Lebreton et al.).
The Great Pacific Garbage Patch
Plastic debris can harm marine life through a multitude of pathways, from releasing of toxic
chemicals to animal entanglement, choking and starving of wildlife after ingestion, and
distributing of non-native and potentially harmful organisms. Ocean plastic pollution is
therefore a major environmental problem, creating an urgent need for an understanding of the
transport and transformation of plastic debris in marine systems, to improve risk assessments
and inform possible mitigation solutions. As of 2017, the global annual plastic production
exceeded 348 million metric tons, or ~400 million metric tons if synthetic polymers used in
spinning textile fibers are included.
Figure 1 Modelled and measured mass concentration in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch (GPGP). (Lebreton et al., 2018)

Growing worldwide plastic consumption results in a rapid buildup of plastic waste in the
environment. In a business-as-usual scenario, the amount of annually generated mismanaged
plastic waste could triple by mid-century, reaching 155–265 million metric tons. Each year, a
fraction of this waste, that is a few million metric tons, eventually enters the sea from coastal
environments and rivers. From the onset of mass production of synthetic polymers in the
1950s, total emissions of positively buoyant plastics into the marine environment have
amounted to tens of million metric tons (Egger et al.).
Figure 2 Predicted concentrations of plastic debris in the upper 2000 m of ocean water column along our cruise track from
Honolulu (Hawaii, USA) to Rosarito (Mexico) (Egger et al., 2020)

Potential Actions That Could Protect Ecosystems and Humans

There are numerous potential actions we must take as a global community to prevent further
contamination of our oceans. Certain potential solutions could be technological. Researchers
mustcould develop polymers that are biodegradable, preventing pollution that makes its way
into the environment from contaminating ecosystems for numerous lifetimes. A similar
approach wouldcould include using more environmentally friendly products that already exist.
For example, certain retail stores in North America and Europe are phasing out the use of
plastic shopping bags for biodegradable paper bags. It may still require natural
resourcesNatural resources are still required to develop these paper products, but their carbon
footprint is much smaller than their polymer relatives.

Implementing Laws/Regulations
However, the easiest way to clean up an ecological disaster is to prevent it from happening in
the first place. One preventative solution wouldcould involve an international organization
offering economic incentives to countries that reduce plastic pollution. For example, the United
Nations shouldmay offer incentives to countries with the highest levels of plastic pollution to
produce ‘greener’ alternatives. More developed countries with lower carbon footprints
shouldcould reduce import taxes or tariffs on goods that were produced with biodegradable,
eco-friendly materials.

Management of Existing Plastic Ocean Pollution

An organization called The Ocean Cleanup is dedicated to cleaning up the plastic that currently
exists in the garbage patch. By using a system of nets cast between two boats, The Ocean
Cleanup aims to clean up 90% of floating plastic ocean pollution. They also intend to stop plastic
pollution at the source. The organization willcan halt 80% of riverine pollution reaching our
oceans by constructing plastic-catching nets in 1000 rivers around the world (The Ocean
Cleanup).

Figure 3 Kingston Harbour, Jamaica, Barnes Gully barrier (theoceancleanup.com)

Conclusion

The Great Pacific Garbage Patch (GPGP) has been identified as one of the largest accumulation
zones of floating plastic litter (Park et al.). According to researchers, results suggest that ocean
plastic pollution within the GPGP is increasing exponentially and at a faster rate than in
surrounding waters (Lebreton et al.). Global action must be taken to prevent further irreversible
damage to the ocean and other ecosystems. Numerous potential solutions exist, including (but
not limited to) international agreements via the United Nations Environment Assembly to limit
production of non-biodegradable polymers and economic incentives to encourage production
of biodegradable substitutes. Cleanup of existing floating plastic ocean pollution in The Great
Pacific Garbage Patch is underway, but additional aid from others is always welcome. We as a
global community created this mess, and it is our responsibility to rectify it.

References

Lebreton, L., Slat, B., Ferrari, F. et al. Evidence that the Great Pacific Garbage Patch is rapidly
accumulating plastic. Sci Rep 8, 4666 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-22939-w

Egger, M., Sulu-Gambari, F. & Lebreton, L. First evidence of plastic fallout from the North Pacific
Garbage Patch. Sci Rep 10, 7495 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-64465-8
Young-Je Park, Shungudzemwoyo P. Garaba, and Bruno Sainte-Rose, "Detecting the Great
Pacific Garbage Patch floating plastic litter using WorldView-3 satellite imagery," Opt. Express
29, 35288-35298 (2021)
The Ocean Cleanup, 24 Oct. 2023, theoceancleanup.com
National Geographic, 9 Nov. 2023, https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/great-
pacific-garbage-patch/