About
The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is a collection of marine debris. It is comprised of the Western Garbage Patch near Japan and the Eastern Garbage Patch located between Hawaii and California. The North Pacific Subtropical Convergence Zone moves the trash from one patch to another. These currents move in a clockwise direction around an area of 20 million square kilometers. A man named Charles Moore discovered the trash vortex of the patch. He was a racing boat captain and was sailing from Hawaii to California when he saw that plastic started surrounding his ship.
Marine Debris
80% of the debris in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch comes from land - based activities in North America and Asia. Although it takes about a year for the trash from Japan and other Asian countries to reach the patch, it takes about six years for the trash from the North America to reach the garbage patch. The other 20% of the debris comes from boaters or cargo ships that dump or lose debris int he water. According to the National Geographic, about 705,000 tons of the debris are fishing nets. Other examples of debris include legos, computers, fishing lines, phones, water bottles, and plastic bags.