An explanation about environmental impact (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Pacific_garbage_patch#Photodegradation_of_plastics" rel="nofollow">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Pacific_garbage_patch#Pho...</a>):<p>> Unlike organic debris, which biodegrades, the photodegraded plastic disintegrates into ever smaller pieces while remaining a polymer. This process continues down to the molecular level.[26] As the plastic flotsam photodegrades into smaller and smaller pieces, it concentrates in the upper water column. As it disintegrates, the plastic ultimately becomes small enough to be ingested by aquatic organisms that reside near the ocean's surface. In this way, plastic may become concentrated in neuston, thereby entering the food chain.
Having read Larry Niven's Ringworld, I'm brought to think of an eerie possibility this might create; that is - what if this currently non-biodegradable material <i>becomes</i> biodegradable? What if the colossal supply of this material (which as a hydrocarbon, had bound-potential-energy in it), over what's going to be a colossally long period of time, gives enough interaction surface that somewhere out there, a bacteria evolves that <i>breaks down plastic</i>?<p>I hardly expect this would be the collapse of civilization or anything (as depicted in the book), but it really could have some nasty consequences. Plastic is relied on almost for precisely that reason - the fact that it <i>doesn't</i> decay/rust/collapse over time. That's why we use it for stuff like medical implants, safety gloves, food storage, sanitary containers ... you name it. It could lose its un-decayable and its sanitary property in one go.<p>Kinda like the problem with overuse of antibiotics.
For those who care, please support The Ocean Cleanup:<p><a href="http://www.boyanslat.com/plastic/" rel="nofollow">http://www.boyanslat.com/plastic/</a><p>An impressive undertaking (founded by a 19 year old, no less) that's creating technology to solve this in ~5 years.
The most amazing thing about these garbage patches are the large amounts of bacteria that are feeding off the plastics.<p><a href="http://www.fastcoexist.com/1682478/welcome-to-the-plastisphere-the-new-world-of-microbes-living-on-ocean-plastic" rel="nofollow">http://www.fastcoexist.com/1682478/welcome-to-the-plastisphe...</a><p>Life, uh, finds a way.
Here's a trailer on a current project to create a film about the impact of the problem on Midway Atoll, in the Pacific Garbage Patch: <a href="http://aaronwolf.blogspot.com/2014/02/documentary-trailer-midway-message-from_12.html" rel="nofollow">http://aaronwolf.blogspot.com/2014/02/documentary-trailer-mi...</a><p>It's heartbreaking.
The 5 Gyres Foundation <a href="http://5gyres.org" rel="nofollow">http://5gyres.org</a> advocates both cleaning up plastic from the ocean and cutting down the use of it
Imagine a small gadget (that would fit under the kitchen counter) that would take your plastic waste and recycle it into a polymer of some sort that can be used as material for 3d printers. Then you can recycle your plastic waste and turn it back into other things. This sort of stuff will make plastic truly valuable (which I think it is) and people will stop littering.<p>Now I don't know much about plastics so I can't say if that's possible or not.. it would be nice if it was :D
How does the sediment rain in the ocean affect this ?<p>I would think that if the plastic pollution stopped one day, within a few years most of the plastic would be sequestered at the bottom of the ocean. Even though plastic floats, eventually it gets inside animal bodies which eventually die and rain to the bottom ... yes ?<p>Genuinely curious...
If only we could collect all this and give it to this guy<p><a href="http://www.popsci.com/article/science/garbage-man" rel="nofollow">http://www.popsci.com/article/science/garbage-man</a>