The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is a trash vortex that is a collection of marine debris in the North Pacific Ocean.

The patch consists of large amounts of plastic, chemical sludge, and other debris that is trapped by the oceans currents. It gradually formed by ocean and marine pollution gathered by the oceans currents over many years.

“The primary source of marine debris is the improper waste disposal or management of trash and manufacturing products, including plastics,” which is stated in a 2011 United States Environmental Protection Agency report of the patch.

The size of the patch is unknown. It is mostly made up of tiny plastic particles at, or just below the water’s surface. Most of these are in fact barely evident to the naked eye. Because of this, it is difficult to estimate the size accurately. Rather than estimating the size by aircraft or satellite it is done by sampling.

“While “Great Pacific Garbage Patch” is a term often used by the media, it does not paint an accurate picture of the marine debris problem in the North Pacific ocean,” as posted on the National Ocean Service website, “Marine debris concentrates in various regions of the North Pacific, not just in one area. The exact size, content, and location of the “garbage patches” are difficult to accurately predict.”

The famous Great Pacific Garbage Patch is not the only one in existence. There are many smaller patches that gather debris from the currents.

“The words ‘garbage patch’ accurately describes what it is, because these are patches of ocean that contain our garbage,” said marine debris expert Dianna Parker, “But they’re not areas where you can easily go through and skim trash off the surface.”

They are not easy to clean because they are tiny micro plastics that aren’t easily removable from the ocean, and because of the size of the area. There were calculations done that reveal, if you tried to clean up less than one percent of the North Pacific Ocean it would take 67 ships one year to clean up that portion.

Until we prevent debris from entering the ocean at the source, it’s going to keep congregating in these areas. We could go out and clean all of it, but still have the same problem on our hands as long as there’s debris entering the ocean.