How can the issue be resolved?
Over the years many experts have thought it impossible to resolve the growing problem of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, however through some prevention techniques and an award-winning invention, the probability of cleaning up the patch is looking likely. The first step to resolving the Great Pacific Garbage Patch is to clean it up. This has been thought to be impossible, as it was predicted that it would take 67 ships to clean up less than 1% of the patch’s garbage in an entire year. Along with this, “Charles Moore, the man who discovered the vortex, says cleaning up the garbage patch would “bankrupt any country that tried it”…” (National Geographic, 2014). However, when 19 year old Boyan Slat came across the garbage patch when diving, he was inspired to create a model called the Marine Litter Extraction System. His concept included spanning solid booms between vessels in the ocean to extract the layer of micro-plastics floating on the surface. Boyan’s concept included fixing the vessels to the sea-bed and letting the currents of the gyre move the vessels. He supports this with the statement: “The oceanic currents moving around is not an obstacle, it’s a solution.” (Slat, 2012) Boyan Slat has set up a project called The Ocean Cleanup to test and fund his concept, fortunately it has proved feasible and environmentally safe; eliminating by-catch by 99.98% by the use of solid booms rather than mesh. Boyan predicts that with the use of 24 of his vessels it could take as little as 5 years to complete the cleanup and remove half of the plastic in the garbage patch. However, if this project is successful the only way to ensure it’s impact remains is to prevent more garbage from littering the ocean. “Prevention is an essential part of stopping plastic pollution, but will require radical changes on all levels of society.” (The Ocean Cleanup, 2014)
Prevention
“Marine debris is absolutely a solvable problem because it comes from us humans and our everyday practices. We can take any number of steps to keep it from entering the ocean and that can happen at the highest level with governments and it can happen at the lowest level (with) individuals and everyday choices.” (Parker, 2014.) The next step to resolving the garbage patch is prevention from garbage entering the ocean. The first thing to be done is to bring “…more government attention to a problem that, while dire, has only received serious scientific attention since the early 1990s.” (Silverman, 2014)
With the combination of Boyan Slat’s cleaning invention and the conscious decisions to prevent ocean litter, the future of the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre can be bright.
- Companies should find an alternative to plastic
- Environmentally safe, reusable packaging must be used
- Recycling programs should be extended to accommodate more types of plastic
- The public must be more thoroughly educated about the dangers of plastic and waste
- International treaties must be enforced to prohibit ocean dumping
- The US Government has increased funding for cleanup efforts
- Government agencies have expanded their cleanup work
- The US Government has established a Marine monument on the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands
- Stopping or limiting plastic bag use: 1 trillion plastic bags are used worldwide per year
- Stop buying bottled water: 9/10 of US plastic bottles aren’t recycled
- Recycle plastics rather than throwing them in the trash
- Stop littering in any form
With the combination of Boyan Slat’s cleaning invention and the conscious decisions to prevent ocean litter, the future of the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre can be bright.