With an estimated surface area of over 600,000 square miles, the Great Pacific Garbage Patch (GPGP) is the largest plastic accumulation zone in the world.
Located halfway between Hawaii and California, the GPGP is estimated to contain a whopping 2.41 million tonnes of plastic – and is continuing to grow.
Scientists are desperately trying to clear the build-up, and this month have been able to extract 10 tonnes (10,086kg) of plastic, bringing the total of plastic removed to 145 tonnes (145,518 kg).
So the job is about .006% done? Okay, whatever. Keep on going, then.
What I object to is that the junk is being offloaded onto U.S. soil, when in fact it should just be returned to its principle point of origin: China (with an assist from the Japs).
Of course, being the assholes that they are, the ChiComs won’t destroy or recycle any of it, but just dump it all back into the ocean.
Asia wins again.
By the way, I see no reason why this cleanup effort shouldn’t be funded in its entirety by Green billionaires and their woke corporations.
Just working the math here, 2.41 million tonnes (assuming the commie metric units) works out to about 8856 lbs of trash per sq mile, or 0.0003 lbs per sq ft. Given an average home size of 2800 sq ft, that less than 1 lb of trash per house sized area.
They throw out really really big numbers, but honestly if you were boating thru there you’d probably not even notice.
You don’t notice. It’s all microplastics, often too small to be naked-eye visible, and it’s all below the surface anyway. I’ve seen many a pic said to be taken in “the patch” and it’s just open water in all directions.
Apparently most of the garbage is fishing gear from Japan and China. Definitely send it back with the bill.
JQ