Great Pacific Garbage Patch has increased 100 fold since 1970's - Polidicks

[URL]http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/environment/9253665/Great-Pacific-Garbage-Patch-has-increased-100-fold-since-the-1970s.html[/URL] [quote][URL="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/"][B]US[/B][/URL] scientists warned the killer soup of microplastic – particles smaller than five millimetres – threatened to alter the open ocean's natural environment.In the period 1972 to 1987, no microplastic was found in the majority of samples taken for testing, said the paper in the Royal Society journal Biology Letters. Today, scientists estimate the swirling mass of waste known as the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre (NPSG) or the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, [B]is roughly the size of Texas. [/B] [B]"The abundance of small human-produced plastic particles in the NPSG has increased by 100 times over the last four decades,[/B]" said a statement on the findings of researchers from the University of California. The United Nations Environment Programme says around 13,000 pieces of plastic litter are found in every square kilometre of sea, but the problem is worst in the North Pacific. The plastic particles are being vacuumed up by marine life and birds, and the mix is heavy with toxic chemicals. The study said the NPSG is providing a new habitat for ocean insects called "sea-skaters" which prey on plankton and fish eggs and are in turn fed on by seabirds, turtles and fish. The insect, which spends its entire life at sea, needs a hard surface on which to lay its eggs – previously limited to relatively rare items like floating wood, pumice and sea shells. If microplastic density continued to grow, insect numbers would increase as well, the scientists warned, "potentially at the expense of prey such as zooplankton or fish eggs".[/quote] oh man, this sucks what do we do OvB

inject the trash into the earth's core [editline]1[/editline] it's the only way

[QUOTE=Sanius;35889723]inject the trash into the earth's core [editline]1[/editline] it's the only way[/QUOTE] How? Use a slow-as-hell tunnel drill?

[QUOTE=Van-man;35889883]How? Use a slow-as-hell tunnel drill?[/QUOTE] a big syringe

[QUOTE=Van-man;35889883]How? Use a slow-as-hell tunnel drill?[/QUOTE] I didn't plan my joke far enough to go into the logistics of it

Launch it into space, let them deal with it in 1000 years when it comes back.

Fair point, although would there be any by-products produced by chucking non-biodegradeable plastic into lava? My guess would be toxic gases and maybe some sort of hydrocarbon residue, the gases being the main concern.

Just launch it towards the sun and then forget all about it. I mean surely scientist must find out some sort of way of launching crap into space without a rocket, surely the worlds largest slingshot stretched over a few miles ought to do it. Obviously if we do it with a rocket it will be much more wasteful than the actual rocket fuel itself, unless you somehow manage to get 1000 tonnes of garbage fit onto a rockets payload, that's a big no.

We need to come up with a harvester type ship that can skim the first 20 feet or so of ocean surface into a holding tank where small particles are filtered out and larger parts are sorted either mechanically or by hand. The harvester must be gentle as there are fish and things that also live up in the top 20 feet of ocean surface. Once inside the ship and sorted out, what can be recycled is melted into ignots and what can't is stored. Stored waste and ignots are transported to a cargo ship and sent back to land to be re-used. I have no idea if this would actually work, but it seems like a good idea to me. We also need to stop the cause of the problem, dumping shit in the ocean. We can do this with strict laws and enforcement in the US, but the hard part will be getting china to stop it. [editline]9th May 2012[/editline] [quote]The United Nations Environment Programme says around 13,000 pieces of plastic litter are found in every square kilometre of sea[/quote] This is really saddening.

[QUOTE=OvB;35890083]We need to come up with a harvester type ship that can skim the first 20 feet or so of ocean surface into a holding tank where small particles are filtered out and larger parts are sorted either mechanically or by hand. The harvester must be gentle as there are fish and things that also live up in the top 20 feet of ocean surface. Once inside the ship and sorted out, what can be recycled is melted into ignots and what can't is stored. Stored waste and ignots are transported to a cargo ship and sent back to land to be re-used. I have no idea if this would actually work, but it seems like a good idea to me. We also need to stop the cause of the problem, dumping shit in the ocean. We can do this with strict laws and enforcement in the US, but the hard part will be getting china to stop it. [editline]9th May 2012[/editline] This is really saddening.[/QUOTE] Exactly what I was thinking. But of course it will never happen because it isn't in our "economic interest."

[QUOTE=OvB;35890083]We need to come up with a harvester type ship that can skim the first 20 feet or so of ocean surface into a holding tank where small particles are filtered out and larger parts are sorted either mechanically or by hand. The harvester must be gentle as there are fish and things that also live up in the top 20 feet of ocean surface. Once inside the ship and sorted out, what can be recycled is melted into ignots and what can't is stored. Stored waste and ignots are transported to a cargo ship and sent back to land to be re-used. I have no idea if this would actually work, but it seems like a good idea to me. We also need to stop the cause of the problem, dumping shit in the ocean. We can do this with strict laws and enforcement in the US, but the hard part will be getting china to stop it. [editline]9th May 2012[/editline] This is really saddening.[/QUOTE] While this is true you do understand the logistics of covering an area that vast, it would require hundreds of these "harvesters" to do it, plus constant supervision and supplies in order to achieve it.

We could launch it into the sun. I mean, werent NASA working on that slingshot mechanism? We could just launch it into the sun and if we miss, it'll just come back to us and burn up in the atmosphere. Boom. Earth is clean.

[QUOTE=ironman17;35890017]Fair point, although would there be any by-products produced by chucking non-biodegradeable plastic into lava? My guess would be toxic gases and maybe some sort of hydrocarbon residue, the gases being the main concern.[/QUOTE] Well it's most likely going to be in an open space, so as long as all workers are wearing the correct apparatus, everyone should be fine as the gases disperse into the atmosphere. Sure you might get some acid rain but that's only temporary.

[QUOTE=ZombieDawgs;35890152]While this is true you do understand the logistics of covering an area that vast, it would require hundreds of these "harvesters" to do it, plus constant supervision and supplies in order to achieve it.[/QUOTE] Yep. It would be a hard, expensive, lengthy process. But it's something that must be done. The plastic is entering the food chain because it photodegrades into small enough pieces that even near microbial life can eat it. It remains a polymer throughout the whole process. Were essentially eating our own garbage when we dine on fish. (not to mention all the other chemicals and shit we dump/used to dump in the sea too). A good percentage of it would be unable to be harvested simply because it's already microscopic. My Idea would be more of a buffer than a solution. We're not going to be able to get the microbial stuff out.

[QUOTE=MajorMattem;35890176]We could launch it into the sun. I mean, werent NASA working on that slingshot mechanism? We could just launch it into the sun and if we miss, it'll just come back to us and burn up in the atmosphere. Boom. Earth is clean.[/QUOTE] "Shit we missed the sun." 'Oh well, it is on Mars now nobody gives a fuck about Mars.' - 100 years later - 'Fuck us for launching our shit on Mars...'

[QUOTE=An Armed Bear;35889913]Launch it into space, let them deal with it in 1000 years when it comes back.[/QUOTE] Someone queue up the Futurama episode of the garbage ball...

You want a briefing of humanity's history? We're working on a way to achieve viable space travel in order to launch our trash at the sun.

[QUOTE=Jessey;35890231]"Shit we missed the sun." 'Oh well, it is on Mars now nobody gives a fuck about Mars.' - 100 years later - 'Fuck us for launching our shit on Mars...'[/QUOTE] Last time i checked, the sun is pretty fucking massive compared to earth, hitting it wont really be a problem

we should try and scavenge as much as possible I wish we recycled 100% of everything we used and used highly effective nuclear plants but, well, like that'll happen.

[QUOTE=J!NX;35890461]we should try and scavenge as much as possible I wish we recycled 100% of everything we used and used highly effective nuclear plants but, well, like that'll happen.[/QUOTE] This. If this things so big lets go get them bottles and make [b]bank[/b] off'a this thing.

[QUOTE=Don Knotts;35890558]This. If this things so big lets go get them bottles and make [b]bank[/b] off'a this thing.[/QUOTE] If it gets to that and we used 100% of the junk for things like chairs, clean bottles, etc, you could sell the shit extra cheap, and make people happy give recycled tools to the homeless, etc. that, or a junk fortress

There might be problems with that as most of the plastic is tiny little chucks smaller than a penny. I'm not sure if photodegradation has chemically altered the plastics to a point where they're not recyclable. Though I admit, I don't know much about the chemistry of plastics or just how far the photodegradation changes it. They still remain a polymer so it might be possible.

[QUOTE=JoshJosh117;35890147]Exactly what I was thinking. But of course it will never happen because it isn't in our "economic interest."[/QUOTE] Yeah honestly, the sun might be the best way. It is so hot than ANYTHING would just be reduced to particles, if there was honestly any bad residue or anything left, it is in an area where no human will go near from fear of dying horribly.

Why can I never find any actual satellite images of this? I want to see all the shit

Does anyone else fear that if we start sending shit to the sun we will somehow fuck that up also?

[QUOTE=RobbL;35890963]Why can I never find any actual satellite images of this? I want to see all the shit[/QUOTE] Because most of it is near microscopic particulate with the occasional chunk floating around here and there. Here's a good video that explains the huge problem: [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FrAShtolieg[/media] There are pictures from a trawling expedition in the patch that show's what it's made up of at 4:45.

[QUOTE=OvB;35890754]There might be problems with that as most of the plastic is tiny little chucks smaller than a penny. I'm not sure if photodegradation has chemically altered the plastics to a point where they're not recyclable. Though I admit, I don't know much about the chemistry of plastics or just how far the photodegradation changes it. They still remain a polymer so it might be possible.[/QUOTE] Some of the plastic has been degraded into the size of plankton, and due to the color of it, some fish eat it.

Scoop it up and let the fungus that eats plastic deal with it.

[QUOTE=Van-man;35891098]Some of the plastic has been degraded into the size of plankton, and due to the color of it, some fish eat it.[/QUOTE] Yep. It kills all sorts of things. Birds and fish all eat the stuff and it get's in the food chain so humans are eating it also. What I meant is I don't know how it changes chemically. Whether or not the stuff we could even harvest would be recyclable or not.

Let it pile up. Soon there will be so much trash that we could walk across the pacific ocean.