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The Great Pacific Garbage Patch

Infographic of Pacific Ocean Sea Dump

Pacific Ocean Sea Dump

This one really caught my attention because it’s something I didn’t know anything about.  It seems that there is an area of the Pacific Ocean, about the size of Spain and Portugal, where the currents of the ocean spiral to this one spot debis from all over the Pacific mass.  According to this 5W Graphics production, about 80% of the debris comes from the land, via sewer systems and rivers that flow into the sea.  The remaining 20% comes from ships and other ocean sources like nets, fishing gear, and other stuff that falls off of ship during storms.

This graphic also includes more information about plastics and their impact.  For instance, I was surprised to lear that barely 5% of all plastics are recycled.   I thought we’d gotten better than that.

The Graphic: http://goo.gl/klWzD


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