The Great Pacific Garbage Patch Report

The Great Pacific Garbage Patch: A Detailed Report

The Great Pacific Garbage Patch was formed when ocean currents swept the increasing amounts of plastic waste and debris into the many gyres of our oceans, starting in the 1980s. America and Japan create hugely excessive amounts of plastic and waste, which ends up in our ocean. They are then sucked into the currents of our ocean and are accumulate in the gyre. A gyre is a collection of currents that rotate clockwise in the Northern Hemisphere and counter-clockwise in the Southern Hemisphere which results in a ring-like current and that pulls towards the center. Most of the garbage in the Great Pacific   Garbage Patch is from land, but some of it comes from boats and debris from vessels/wreckage. Garbage accumulates on our beaches, ports, rivers, and storm drains which all washes into the ocean. The garbage ends up in the currents and ends up at the center of the gyre, held in by the force of the ocean currents. This garbage patch presents a particular problem because many marine and terrestrial animals migrate across the pacific and end up eating this plastic or getting caught in it. This has led to the death of many animals, but the Laysan Albatross suffers especially, eating tons of plastic, and feeding this plastic to their chicks. The chicks choke and die on the plastic, and things from lighters to fishing wire have been found in their stomach.