Have you ever considered, as an individual, your role in the destruction of our precious planet? On Sept. 8th, The Ocean Clean Up, a foundation dedicated to developing technologies for cleaning up for us, deployed a giant pool noodle that will passively collect plastic from a floating island of waste the size of Texas called the “Great Pacific Garbage Patch.”

Earth Day Network has created a fact sheet on plastics in the ocean; those facts are as follows:

• 8 million metric tons of plastic are thrown into the ocean annually. 236,000 tons are micro-plastics, tiny pieces of broken-down plastic smaller than your little fingernail.
• There are five massive patches of plastic in the oceans globally.
• Every minute, one garbage truck of plastic is dumped into our oceans.
• The amount of plastic in the ocean is set to increase tenfold by 2020.
• By 2050 there will be more plastic in the oceans than there are fish (by weight).
• Plastic is found in the ocean as far as 11km deep. Meaning synthetic fibers have contaminated most remote places on earth.
• Many marine organisms cannot distinguish plastics from food and eat it. The plastic fills their stomachs up preventing them from eating real food, causing starvation.
• The likelihood of coral, that is home to more than 25% of marine life, becoming diseased increases from 4% to 89% after coming in contact with marine plastic damaging the skin of coral, allowing infection to set in.
• There is more plastic than natural prey at the sea surface of the Great Pacific Garbage
• Patch, which means that organisms feeding in this area are likely to have plastic as a major component of their diets. Sea turtles by-caught in fisheries operating within and around the patch can have up to 74% (by dry weight) of their diets composed of ocean plastics.

• Many fish humans consume, including brown trout, cisco, and perch, have at one time or another, ingested plastic micro

California is attempting to mitigate the growing plastic waste problem by implementing a statewide single-use carryout bag ban, SB-270, in 2016. In addition, CA has recently passed a new measure on single-use straws, AB-1884. Plastic bags and straws found floating in the ocean are among the top 8 most common items.

The Ocean Cleanup

founded in 2013 by Boyan Slat, who also serves as CEO. Slat first proposed the project at a Ted-Talk in 2012. Slat later revised his original design; this revision won design of the year at the London Design Museum. Some drastic revisions made in 2017 consisted of a reduction in dimensions, resulting in a fleet of smaller barriers. A passive collection system replaced the automatic collection system. Finally in 2018,  a deep screen that creates drag needed to keep pace with floating debris replaced sea anchors. If you’d like to donate, or are seeking a challenging position visit The Ocean Cleanup.