The Damage to our Seas           

Plastic is an amazing material.  Plastic is used for almost everything, there is not a day goes by in which you do not touch something made of plastic.  We are now more than half a century into the existence of plastic and are beginning to see that plastics are quite literally here to stay.  Most plastics are not biodegradable, so they slowly break down into smaller and smaller pieces until they are ingested by microscopic life and slowly those little pieces of plastic make their way back up the food chain.  So the next time you throw an empty plastic bottle into the bin, consider the fact that in years to come you or one of your descendants will be eating it!

Despite manufacturer’s and recycler’s best intentions, plastic bottles end up in streams and in the ocean where they drift to form enormous “rubbish islands” or garbage patches.  The Great Pacific Garbage Patch, also described as the Pacific Trash Vortex, is a gyre of marine litter in the central North Pacific Ocean located roughly between 135° to 155°W  and 35° to 42°N and estimated to be twice the size of Texas. 

ABC News Report  

 The man who is credited with discovering the Great Pacific Garbage Patch is Charles Moore and for more details on his work and a video presentation by him on the damage to our oceans, please click here .

An area of plastic debris was first observed in the North Atlantic Ocean in the early 1970s and to get a indication of the damage that is occuring there, please see our page on the fantastic work being done by the Sea Education Association (SEA) in America. 

'We've now tracked plastics particles smaller than a human hair, to 20 microns,' says Dr Richard Thompson, a marine scientist from Plymouth University, 'and we've found nine different polymers, consistent with water bottles, all over the UK and further afield as well.'  It would appear the impact of bottled water runs far deeper than abstract litter.  The scary part is that it is now entering the food chain and the long term implication for our wildlife and us as a human race cannot be underestimated.

For more information on the damage been done throughout our oceans, please visit  5 Gyres - Understanding Plastic Pollution through Exploration, Education and Action