The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is the largest collection of plastic ocean waste on the planet, located between California and Hawaii. It is about 3 times as big as France, more than 600,000 square miles. That's about the size of Alaska!
Sadly, most of the contents of the patch could have been recycled or reused. When these items are dumped into the ocean, we can't recycle the materials and have to make more.
This only encourages ocean pollution. Many plastic items that could have been recycled are resulting in about a million sea creature deaths each year. More specifically, that is:
) 2,740 animals every day
) 114 animals every hour
) 2 animals every minute
What will happen if we let this patch keep growing? There could be huge effects to food chains. For example, if a certain type of plastic kills a fish species, the animals that eat the fish will starve, and a domino effect will spread. Eventually, land animals that eat fish will have a shortage of food, and maybe even effect us.
Well, what can you do about it?
) Use only RECYCLABLE plastic products. Or, even better, use things such as reusable water bottles instead of plastic ones!
) ALWAYS recycle when possible.
) Let others know of this situation and the consequences.