A continent of plastic much bigger than expected

Larger than previously thought, the surface of this floating discharge located in the Pacific Ocean would be three times that of France. Pollution that leads us to question the problems posed by plastic waste.

Follow the amazing epic of plastic in the ocean Every year, eight million tonnes of plastic are released into the sea. This material evolves with the currents, is eaten by plankton and marine organisms, to contaminate the entire chain food. The Tara Mediterranean Expedition studies the phenomenon. Discover in video how these scientists track the plastic in the oceans.

Billions of pieces of plastic , 80,000 tons of waste : the gigantic dump that floats in the Pacific is much larger than previously estimated, and covers an area of ​​three times France, according to a study published Thursday, March 22. While plastic production exceeds 320 million tons per year, some of these bags, bottles, packaging, abandoned fishing nets and degraded microparticles are aggregating in several areas of the oceans, under the effect of giant whirlpools formed by marine currents, and they threaten animals and ecosystems .

This is the most important of these vortices , known as the " Great Pacific Garbage Patch " (GPGP), which was scanned half way between Hawaii and California. study published in the journal Scientific Reports .

Believing that any square kilometer containing more than one kilogram of plastic is part of this Pacific garbage can, they estimate its size at about 1.6 million km 2 , three times the continental France, even if it is not not a compact mass . And based on the harvest of 1.2 million samples and overflights , they also conclude that 1.800 billion pieces of plastic, weighing a total of some 80,000 tons, float in this magma that "exponentially increases ".

These estimates are thus four to sixteen times higher than two previous studies of this vortex, stress the researchers. A result partly related to "more reliable" methods of analysis, the previous ones having mainly concentrated on microplastics . But that could "also be attributed to the increase in plastic pollution of the oceans in the area" , particularly in connection with the debris of the Japanese tsunami of 2011.

"All-disposable" pollutes the planet

In general, plastic represented 99.9% of collected waste, but not necessarily in microscopic form as expected by scientists. They were surprised to discover that, by weight, more than three quarters of this landfill consisted of debris exceeding five centimeters and almost half of abandoned fishing gear.

These ropes and these "ghost" nets kill many " fish , turtles , and even marine mammals " that get entangled in them, explains to AFP the lead author Laurent Lebreton, of the Ocean Cleanup Foundation. But it's still "rather good news" because "large debris is much easier to collect than microplastics," he says.

The " Great Pacific Garbage Patch "

"These results provide us with key data to develop and test our cleaning technology, but it also highlights the urgency of tackling the problem of plastic pollution , " Boyan Slat , founder of Ocean Cleanup, said in a statement. . The young Dutchman, who embarked on this adventure at age 18, develops with his 75 engineers a system of floating barriers to catch plastic debris.

When it is operational, it hopes to empty 50% of the Pacific landfill in five years. But these barriers will not be able to pick up pieces smaller than one centimeter, which leaves the whole problem of microwastes, dangerous particles: ingested by small animals, they enter the food chain . How long will they disappear? "It depends on the type of polymer , environmental conditions, but the sincere answer is that we do not really know , " recognizes Laurent Lebreton.
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The level of plastic pollution in deep waters and on the seabed under the GPGP remains unknown.

The study also questions the risk that these particles will not sink. "The level of plastic pollution in deep water and on the seabed under the GPGP remains unknown," say the researchers, who call for further sampling .

Despite this worrying observation, Laurent Lebreton refuses to appoint guilty parties. "People see the amount of fishing gear and point the finger at the fishing industry, but they also eat fish. This is not the question of a sector or a region, it is mainly our way of life and consumption, plastics for single use, society of all-disposable , he says. We must take important steps in this area . We will solve this problem on a global scale. "

Source: futura-sciences.com

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