Garbage Patches

Most of the garbage that is produced nowadays is based on plastic. Plastic is made of petroleum, which is something that our planet cannot biodegrade (digest). Therefore every bit of plastic that is produced is still on our planet, apart from the few plastics which have been incinerated, causing toxics to be released into the atmosphere.

In the ocean the plastic accumulates in garbage patches, where plastic to sea life ratio is 6:1, causing birds and mammals to die of starvation and dehydration with their bellies full of plastic. Fish also ingest toxins, which makes them not safe to eat.

The largest of the garbage patches is known as the Pacific Gyre, or the Great Garbage Patch. This is about the size of Texas with about 3.5 million tons of trash. This includes shoes, toys, wrappers, toothbrushes, and bottles.

(http://www.greatgarbagepatch.org/)

http://img.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2008/02_01/SoupLL0502_468x271.jpg

A lot of the plastics littering cities also end up in these patches through rivers and currents. Litter from beaches also gets carried there. To stop these enormous rubbish piles from growing combined efforts are needed... from everybody.