Trash Vortex
The Trash Vortex is a plastic island (made of plastic instead of land) off the West Coast of California. It is twice the size of Texas. I It is made up of 3.6 trillion pieces of Plastic. It is called a Vortex because the currents keep the trash vortex in place. The deepest area of the Vortex is 9’ deep and it is called the Dead Zone. No sea life can live there due to the density of plastic. Discarded fishing gear is 46% of the total mass of the Trash Vortex.
Worldwide, 170 trillion plastic particles weighing roughly 2 million metric tons are floating in the world’s oceans. This number could almost triple by 2040. One of the most common item found in the oceans are plastic bags.
Plastic does not decompose. It will be with us 100’s of years from now. It does break down into micro-plastics though. Fish mistake these micro-plastics for food and consume them. So literally micro-plastics end up in our human food chain as we eat fish from the ocean. Micro-plastics are found everywhere now, including on beaches and on mountains.
Fishing line and Nets can kill sea life and literally choke them to death.
Personal Actions you can take;
- Don’t plastic pollute. If a plastic bottle gets swept into the sewage system it more then likely will end up in the ocean.
- Use a reusable bag when you shop, don’t use plastic bags.
- Recycle Plastics.
- Use a reusable cup, instead of plastic water bottles.
- Use a steel straw instead of a plastic one. Plastic straws cannot be recycled.
- Don’t use one time use plastic cutlery. Use reusable steel cutlery.
- Think twice about a plastic purchase. Ask yourself if you will use that item for years to come before you purchase it.
- Do not leave old fishing line or nets in the water. Take them with you.
- Educate others about the dangers of plastic.