Pacific Garbage Patch Multiplies to Several Times Spain's Size

The world's oceans are increasingly becoming vast repositories for plastic waste, with alarming estimates suggesting that between 5 and 12 million tons of plastic enter the oceans annually. A 2016 report in the prestigious journal Science highlighted this growing crisis, warning that humanity is transforming marine environments into enormous landfills that threaten aquatic life.

Oceans, covering approximately 71% of the Earth's surface and harboring 91% of the biosphere, are now estimated to contain over 100 million tons of plastic. This pervasive pollution harms marine ecosystems, with fauna ingesting microplastics that have infiltrated the entire food web and even human bodies.

Larger plastic debris is transported by currents until it enters oceanic gyres – rotating current systems influenced by the Earth's rotation, a phenomenon described by Gaspard de Coriolis in 1836. Within these gyres, continuous influxes of plastic cause the waste to accumulate, forming immense floating garbage patches.

The most prominent example of this phenomenon is the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, located in the North Pacific Gyre. Reliable sources estimate its size to be between 2.4 and 3.6 million square kilometers, an area that is four to seven times larger than Spain. This colossal accumulation of plastic waste, first reported as a potential phenomenon in 1985 by Alaskan laboratories, serves as a stark visual representation of the global plastic pollution crisis. The plastics, primarily polyethylenes and polypropylenes, degrade extremely slowly, fragmenting into smaller microplastics under the persistent effects of sun, temperature, wind, and salinity.