Plastic does not disappear. When we just throw it away it ends up in a garbage patch somewhere. It is estimated that garbage patch in the ocean outside USA is twice the size of Texas! But the exact size is unknown, as large items readily visible from a boat deck are uncommon. Most debris consists of small plastic particles suspended at or just below the surface.
80 % of the garbage comes from land-based sources and 20% from ships. The land-based sources are for instance North America and Japan.
Sea turtles and albatrosses eat the plastic and get sick and die. Pollutants from the debris are among others PCB, DDT and PAH. Toxins and the hormone estradiol are spread in the ecosystem, for instance it can be eaten by a jellyfish who is eaten by a fish who is eaten by humans...
There has been some science projects about how to clean it up. That is not enough! We created this and we need to clean it up and stop more from coming into the sea. Help me put pressure on leaders of the world so that they decide to make this happen!
Thank you!
Tekla
(Wikipedia helped with facts.)
