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A Swirling Mass of Plastic Waste
A recent study by the California-based Algalita Marine Research Foundation has drawn attention to the phenomenon of ocean gyres. A gyre (pronounced ji-er) is a swirling vortex, usually of ocean or wind currents.
The North Pacific Subtropical Gyre, is heavily polluted by plastic waste, and occupies roughly 10 million square miles of ocean - about twice the size of Texas. Due to ocean currents, this assorted waste, including bottle caps and shampoo bottles, has been collected in a large concentrated area within the gyre.
Several ocean currents - namely the North Equatorial Current, the North Pacific Current, the California Current and the Kuroshio Current - cause the majority of debris in the Pacific Ocean to end up in this central area.
According to the Oxobiodegradable Plastics Association, "the only way to prevent this pollution (until the time – if ever- when human beings collect and dispose responsibly of all their trash) is to require all short and medium-life plastic to be oxo-biodegradable."