Environmentalists have removed more than 40 tons of plastic from the Pacific Ocean. The group, Ocean Voyages Institute, said the cleanup mission was the "largest and most successful ocean cleanup to date" in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. The sea, between Hawaii and California, is the biggest concentration of floating debris in the world.
Using satellite and advanced technology, the crew removed trash including bottles, plastic furniture and children's toys. They also collected fishing tool called "ghost nets," with one weighing 5 tons and another weighing 8 tons. "Ghost nets" are massive nets of nylon that drift and accumulate plastic debris. "Monster ghost nets are very important to get out of the ocean, but it's sometimes the small ghost nets that get wrapped around whales and dolphins and kill them," Mary Crowley, founder of Ocean Voyages Institute, said.
About 1.5 tons of the collected plastic was given to the University of Hawaii graduate art program and individual artists on the island, Crowley said. The artists plan to transform the plastic into sculptures and other works. The remaining amount is expected to be processed by Schnitzer Steel and sent to Hawaii's H-POWER plant to be turned into energy.
"What we've done out there is small compared to the problem," Crowley said. "What we've already done has saved a lot of fish, dolphins and whales. It was necessary to find the debris and effectively and efficiently pick it up and bring it in and have it repurposed."
Garbage patches like the one in the Pacific Ocean are formed by ocean currents, which pull objects into one location. These areas of debris endanger wildlife when animals become trapped in the trash or eat it. The material—ranging from plastics to other trash—takes "a very long time" to break down. Crowley said her group is planning a longer, three-month cleanup expedition in the future and hopes other organizations can follow suit.
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