An Ocean of Plastic by Courtney DuChene
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An Ocean of Plastic By Courtney DuChene Scenario: You go to the store a nd purchase groceries, the sales a ssistant rings you up and in a continuous motion places your items in plastic bags. When you get home you proceed to put the plastic covered items in their intended positions, and finally dispose of the plastic bag . What happens to all of the garbage and plastic after y ou ultimately throw it out? In society today, this throw away mindset has become the “norm”. Our generation grew up with the catchy phrase reduce, reuse, and recycle driven into our brains, yet few of us actually carry out these actions. To refer back to the question above what does happen once your garbage and plastics leave your residence? According to Gyres Institutes’ website approximately 50% is buried in landfills, 5% of plastics a re reused, and the rest remains unaccounted for. Most of this unaccounted mass has ended up in the ocean with the help of environmental factors. There is no precise data on the quantity of human waste into the oceans, but estimates suggest “approxi mately 6.4 million tons” is added annually and 80% of that originates from land based sources [Schuyler et al, 2013]. Figure 1 (shown below) graphically shows the anthropogenic pollution from land based sources. Since this mass has been accumulating within the ocean it is now known as the ‘Great Garbage Patch’ of the Pacific Ocean. Figure 1
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