Plastic Bag Island

• Stumble This
• Digg This
• Share on Delicious
• Share on Facebook
• Tweet This
• Tags: evil bag island, plastic bag island, plastic bags, plastic waste, resusable bags

It has been said that in the pacific ocean there is a plastic bag island larger than the state of Texas. But it’s not the type of island where you can curl up in a lounge chair and crack open a Corona. The mass of trash, mostly plastic bags, is called the Central Pacific Gyre (East), and its 10 million square miles in the middle of the Pacific Ocean between the California coast and Japan.

The Algalita Marine Research Foundation, which is in Long Beach, CA, states that the Gyre is caused by clockwise air and water patterns. It can be a very inhospitable and difficult place for a boat to navigate. It’s because of these currents that the area, which is now known as “plastic soup”, has accumulated so much trash and plastic.

Captain Charles Moore is a founder and research coordinator of the Algalita Foundation. The foundation specializes in environmental issues pertaining to marine life. While on an expedition to the Gyre, the Algalita team discovered a more disturbing site, its called the subtropical convergence zone (West). The subtropical convergence zone is simply the point in which warmer waters in tropical temperatures meets cold water. Its in this area where the currents formulate highways of trash, even more dense than the Gyre.

More informally, these regions are called the East and West Pacific Garbage Patch. Debris floating around the garbage patches consists mainly of fishing gear and plastic waste.

Sometimes our trash gets confused with a marine animal’s normal diet. It has been documented that many marine species cannot tell the difference between a plastic bag and a jellyfish, for example. It has also been shown that many marine animals have been found dead from chocking on plastic bags and other items.

I don’t know if people realize this but the ocean is not a trash dump! How much effort does it take to recycle plastic bags or plastic bottles? While more and more Americans are recycling plastic bags, there are still more than 90 billion bags each year that are not recycled worldwide.

But there is a solution: reusable bags! Right now in Seattle, Washington, they are debating a $0.20 plastic bag tax. Its time to take a stand and initiate bands like this. It’s time for the whole world to switch to non-polluting, reusable bags.

This article provided by Poksak the green reusable bags provider.

Technorati Tags: evil bag island, plastic bag island, plastic bags, plastic waste, resusable bags