Many plastics do not wear down in these garbage patches, they simply break into tinier and tinier pieces. For many people, a “garbage patch” is pictured as an island of trash floating on the ocean. In reality, these patches are almost entirely made up of tiny bits of plastic, called microplastics. The microplastics of a Garbage Patch can simply make the water look like a cloudy soup. This soup is intermixed with larger items, such as fishing gear and shoes. The seafloor beneath a Garbage Patch may also be an underwater trash heap. Oceanographers and ecologists recently discovered that about 70% of marine debris actually sinks to the bottom of the ocean. About 80% of the debris in these Garbage Patches come from land-based activities. The remaining 20% of debris comes from boaters, offshore oil rigs, and large cargo ships that dump or loose debris directly into the water. Many ocean wildlife are affected by these garbage patches. Trash can trap animals and be mistaken by as food. It is destroying food webs and threatening biodiversity. If we don't make a change the problem will become a threat to not only marine wildlife but us too. We must take stand now and fix the problem at hand.
Images:
http://www.environmenthouse.ch/?q=en/events/unog-library-talks-garbage-patch-state
http://meche.mit.edu/research/ocean