Plastic tide: Great Pacific garbage patch's global impact

The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is a floating mass of waste in the northern part of the Pacific Ocean and is becoming an increasingly serious environmental issue. Studies by The Ocean Cleanup organization from 2015 to 2022 have revealed a significant rise in the amount of waste gathered from global sources.

Over these seven years, the mass of plastic waste increased from approximately 2 kilos per square kilometre to 11 kilos per square kilometre. The concentration of small waste particles rose from 1 million per square kilometre in 2015 to over 10 million per square kilometre in 2022. Scientists estimate that 74-96% of this increase is coming from international sources.

Plastic pollution threatens the local ecosystem. Such a large accumulation of waste is dangerous for the fauna living in the area. Animals can ingest or become entangled in the plastic, and the waste can disrupt the global carbon cycle by interfering with zooplankton feeding. Moreover, new species have colonized the plastic waste, competing with native animals.

To grasp the scale of the problem, consider that the area of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch is larger than Germany.

Laurent Lebreton, the lead author of the study, emphasizes that the increase in plastic fragments is a result of decades of inadequate waste management. Scientists are advocating for a global intervention to remove existing pollution from the oceans.

"Our findings should serve as an urgent call to action for lawmakers engaged in negotiating a global treaty to end plastic pollution," says Lebreton.

Specialists highlight that while many countries are trying to prevent pollution at the source, it is crucial to also remove the waste already present in the oceans. According to researchers, this is the only way to limit the formation of increasingly smaller plastic fragments in the future.

Microplastics, tiny material fragments, are everywhere—from the depths of the oceans to the highest mountain peaks. The problem is worsening as these particles accumulate pollutants, affecting the aquatic environment, soil, and air.

The ubiquity of microplastics also poses health risks. They have been detected in human organs such as the brain, heart, and testicles. Pollution with plastic particles can weaken the effect of antibiotics, posing a threat to effective infection treatment and potentially leading to antibiotic resistance in bacteria. Microplastics also enter the body through the consumption of food, such as fruits and fish.