23 March 2018 10:30 am
The Netherlands, (Daily Mail), 22 March 2018 -
The largest accumulation of ocean plastic in the world, known as the ‘great Pacific garbage patch’, is now three times the size of France, new research has found.
Aerial images reveal 79,000 tonnes of plastic in the huge ocean accumulation zone west of California, a figure 16 times higher than previous estimates.
The results suggest that there is far more plastic in the area than scientists thought, and that microplastics are rapidly accumulating in the region, researchers at the Ocean Cleanup Project found.
The tiny toxic particles get into our food supply when they are eaten by fish and can penetrate our internal organs and carry toxic chemicals into the body.
Study coauthor and Ocean Cleanup scientist Dr Laurent Lebreton told MailOnline: ‘The great Pacific garbage patch (GPGP) is located half way between Hawaii and California.
‘Plastic waste may decompose into small fragments, often referred as microplastics that may be harmful to marine life.’