The Zero Garbage Challenge

THE PACIFIC GARBAGE PATCH

It’s twice the size of Texas. It’s made mostly of plastic. It floats within the North Pacific sub-tropical gyre, in a slow circular current….

 It’s the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, or the Trash Vortex.

 Why you should care:

• 70% of the garbage in the ocean is on the sea floor. This means that the island is only a fraction of the garbage problem.
• 90% of ocean garbage is plastic.
• The plastic doesn’t break down chemically, it only breaks into smaller and smaller pieces. Eventually, the pieces become small enough to move into the food chain.
• Most of the garbage that ends up in the ocean comes from land. It’s simple, really: trash travels over land, into the streams, and out to the ocean. Our garbage - yours and mine - is ending up in the ocean.

But wait! Before you dive into the depressed black hole of eco-stress … you can take steps and make a difference!

What you can do:

• Use less plastic. This really is possible! Check out Life Less Plastic and PlasticLess
• Recycle everything that you possibly can
• Go out and collect garbage from a land, stream, or beach near you. Check out Pick Up America, or if you live in Charlottesville, join Rivanna Conservation Society’s annual river clean-up.

To learn more:

• How Stuff Works - an article about the vortex
• Stuff You Should Know - a podcast about recycling and the garbage island
• Article from Discover Magazine
• Greenpeace website
• BBC article about plastic pieces

The seas of plastic…

Want to learn more about plastic bottles, plastic bags, plastic bottle caps, and the Pacific Garbage Patch?  Go to this TED Talk by Charles Moore. 

Lest you begin to sink into a plastic depression, view some lovely uses of plastic bottle caps HERE and HERE and HERE.