The Great Pacific Garbage Patch

The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is a giant area in the ocean full of floating trash. Most of the trash is plastic like bottles, bags, and fishing nets. It sits between California and Hawaii in the Pacific Ocean. The patch shows us that we need to use less plastic and clean up our oceans.

How It Got There

Trash from land flows into rivers and then out into the sea. Ocean currents called gyres pull the trash to one area and spin it in a circle. Over many years, the trash built up into a huge floating patch. Most of the plastic comes from fishing gear and from things people throw away on land. The trash can take hundreds of years to break down.

Why It Is a Problem

Sea animals like turtles and fish sometimes eat the plastic by mistake. This can make them very sick. Seabirds can get tangled in old fishing nets. Tiny pieces of plastic even end up inside the fish we eat. Groups of scientists and volunteers are working hard to clean up the patch and stop more trash from reaching the ocean.

Fun Facts

• The garbage patch is about twice the size of the state of Texas.
• It has over 1.8 trillion pieces of plastic floating in it.
• A group called The Ocean Cleanup uses giant nets to scoop out trash.

Did You Know?

Most of the plastic in the patch is in tiny pieces called microplastics, which are smaller than a grain of rice.