10 Horrifying Facts About the Great Pacific Garbage Patch

The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is Huge!
The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is Huge!

10 Horrifying Facts About the Great Pacific Garbage Patch

In the United States, as well as in much of the developed world, we rely on plastic for virtually everything. Think about the course of your day, for instance. When you wake up in the morning, the first thing you do is probably hit the ‘snooze’ button on your plastic alarm clock. Then, you walk into the bathroom to take a shower and brush your teeth using items that are stored in plastic. Next, you venture into the kitchen to prepare breakfast with pots, pans, and utensils that are comprised of

, you guessed it, plastic. As you go about your day, chances are you use more plastic than any other kind of material. According to GarbagePatch.net, there are about seven billion pounds of non-recyclable plastic that is produced every year around the world. In just the United States, only 7% of all of the plastic that is consumed annually is actually recycled. So, where does the rest of the plastic waste end up? It ends up in places like the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is a unique vortex of plastic debris that floats in the ocean between the Western Coast of the United States and Hawaii. While much of the rubble lurks beneath the surface of the sea, the vortex is large, complex, and continues to devastate our marine environment. Here are ten horrifying and interesting facts about the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.

10The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is Massive

The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is Huge!

9The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is Not the Only One

There are 5 gigantic garbage patches worldwide!

8No one Knows How Much Garbage is in the Patch

We have no idea how much garbage is out there?

7More than 70% of the Debris Lies on the Ocean Floor

Most of the junk is on the bottom of the ocean.

6The Garbage Patch is Too Big and Too Costly to Clean Up

Cleaning up the garbage might be impossible despite this nice stock image.

5It Has Grown Tremendously in a Short Period of Time

The garbage patch is growing at a tremendous rate.

4It Presents a Significant Danger to Marine Mammals

Ocean life is suffering thanks to our garbage.

3It Threatens Food Chains

Do you want your sushi eating plastic?

2Plastics Leach and Absorb Harmful Pollutants

Nasty garbage leaks terrible chemicals in our precious oceans.

1It Just Keeps Getting Bigger

The great garbage patch just keeps growing and growing.