▲ Plastic is one of the biggest problems in Earth environment.

▲ The Garbage Island is discovered in 1997.

In 1997, Charles Moore discovered a giant island while sailing across the Pacific Ocean. When he looked closely, it was not a ground. It was a trash island which was 15 times larger than South Korea. After he discovered the giant trash island, the seriousness of ocean pollution came to the fore. This was called GPGP, short for Great Pacific Garbage Patch.

▲ The number of plastic trash in GPGP was 1.8 trillion, and it weighs 8 million tons.

The number of plastic trash in GPGP was 1.8 trillion, and it weighs 8 million tons. It is as same as five extra-large passenger planes. In 2018 March 23rd, nonprofit organization, Ocean Clean Up Foundation presented inflow route of the trashes in GPGP.

▲ Kuroshio current conveyed the trashes from Asia to the North Pacific Ocean.

Kuroshio current conveyed the trashes from Asia to the North Pacific Ocean. When East Japan had an earthquake, 4.5 million ton of trashes ran into the ocean and 30 percent of 1.8 trillion plastic came from Japan. Also, 19.8 percent of the trashes came from China.

▲ In GPGP, a turtle is suffering from a rope.

Even though the large plastics consist of nearly all of the GPGP, the largest problem is the microplastics. Microplastics are emerging while being decomposed by sunlight or ocean current. So, creatures in the ocean can misunderstand these microplastics as prey and eat. So, many fishes and other creatures get various diseases. Moreover, this damage can also affect human. When they eat fishes, the microplastics in the fishes are absorbed into our body.

▲ This is a bill of GPGP.

▲ This is a bill of GPGP.

To let people know GPGP and the seriousness of plastic problems, people made a national flag and money of GPGP. Also, there was a petition that demands to recognize GPGP as a nation, and by this petition, many people got to know about the plastic garbage problem. However, there are also four garbage islands in North Atlantic, The Indian Ocean, and The South Pacific, and they get bigger and bigger.

Oct 21st, By 송주연