How big is the problem?
The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is becoming worse and worse everyday. Scientists have collected up to 750,000 tiny broken down pieces of plastic in one single square km. Meaning, that there is approximately 3.5 million tons of watery garbage getting sucked into the gyre. Some people living in California have reported that, "In some coastal areas, a day at the beach is becoming a day at the sandy trash heap" (Julia Layton, 2010). As you can see in the graph on the right below, 80% of the rubbish accumulated in the patch is from land...from us. The rubbish is brought by sewer systems and rivers which ends up in the sea. The other 20% of the rubbish in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch is from ships and ocean sources like nets and fishing gear. Did you know that a typical 3000 passenger cruise ship, produces over 8 tons of solid waste a week, much of which ends up in the ocean.
"Coming across more plastic bags than fish."
"In some coastal areas, a day at the beach is becoming a day at the sandy trash heap."