Trash Piles in the Pacific Ocean?

Try to imagine the colossal amount of waste we humans create on a daily basis. Did you know, for instance, that the US based Algalita Marine Research Foundation identified a huge trash pile floating just beneath the surface of the North Pacific Central Gyre? It's a spot in the ocean where the wind barely blows, the current flows clockwise and the ocean is often undisturbed and glassy, a leisurely spot for a garbage floe twice the size of the continental U.S.

Back in 2000, the crew of the ORV Alguita, the Algalita Foundation's ship, set out to study the gyre and reported, "The low point of our 6,000 mile voyage to the North Pacific High was the discovery of an alarmingly large number of plastic bags in the center of the North Pacific Central Gyre."

It took 10 miles for the ship to leave the mess behind. That was eight years ago. In 2007, the ORV Alguita expedition showed "a five fold increase in plastic quantities in the Gyre." On Feb. 23, the Alguita returned from yet another gyre study expedition. Blogging during the trip, they reported, "Finding alarming quantities of plastic – more than we have ever found before."

"The biggest concentration we find is of wrappers from potato chip bags, food wrappers, plastic water bottles and Styrofoam, and those start at your trash bin on your street," Algalita Foundation executive director Marieta Francis says.