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The seabin project...simple but effective in contained areas

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The Seabin Project | In-Water Automated Marina Rubbish Collector

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Watch the short video which explains how ocean cleanup technology works

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The Ocean Cleanup System 001 Explained |  | Cleaning Oceans

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The Great Pacific Garbage Patch explained in under 3 minutes

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The Great Pacific Garbage Patch Explained | Research | The Ocean Cleanup

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The Majestic Plastic Bag - A Mockumentary

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WATCH: Plastic Pollution Coalition - OPEN YOUR EYES

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WATCH: Plastic Pollution Coalition - OPEN YOUR EYES

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Plastic Pollution Coalition - OPEN YOUR EYES - Overview Narrated by Jeff Bridges

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WATCH: Capt. Charles Moore, who discovered the North Pacific Garbage Patch, presenting at a TED talk.

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WATCH: Capt. Charles Moore, who discovered the North Pacific Garbage Patch, presenting at a TED talk.

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Captain Charles Moore on the seas of plastic

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http://www.ted.com Capt. Charles Moore of the Algalita Marine Research Foundation first discovered the Great Pacific Garbage Patch -- an endless floating waste of plastic trash. Now he's drawing attention to the growing, choking problem of plastic debris in our seas.

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1. How do your individual actions contribute to the Great Oceanic Garbage Patches?

2. Are you prepared to do anything to address this, and if so, what?

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Using the google doc which has been shared with you on Classroom make comprehensive notes on the causes, consequences  and possible responses to the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.

Remember to include specific information (such as statistics, place names etc).

It is important that you make reference as to why this is a relevant example of a major polluting event that affects more than one country/large area.

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LOOK: Pacific trash vortex animation showing drift of ocean pollution

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LOOK: Pacific trash vortex animation showing drift of ocean pollution

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Graphic illustration by GREEN PEACE of Pacific trash vortex showing drift of ocean pollution.

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Pacific trash vortex animation showing drift of ocean pollution

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Graphic illustration of Pacific trash vortex showing drift of ocean pollution.

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READ: Can the oceans be cleared of floating plastic rubbish?

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READ: Can the oceans be cleared of floating plastic rubbish?

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Scientists are investigating ways of dealing with the millions of tonnes of floating plastic rubbish that is accumulating in our oceans.

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Scientists are investigating ways of dealing with the millions of tonnes of floating plastic rubbish that is accumulating in our oceans.

They are a quirk of ocean currents - a naturally created vortex known as a gyre - where floating rubbish tends to accumulate.

The largest is in the North Pacific and covers an area twice the size of France. Others have since been discovered in the North Atlantic and most recently the South Atlantic.

Scientists now fear the same process is probably taking place in the South Pacific and Indian Ocean.

As well as damaging coasts and killing marine life who mistake the plastic for food, contaminants in the water, which attach to the plastic debris, are transporting waste chemicals across the world's oceans.

'Plastic munching'

At the UK's University of Sheffield, scientists are investigating how they could accelerate the speed at which the plastic breaks down by looking at micro-organisms already found in the sea that naturally feed on plastic.

Promising results have already been seen in finding out which microbes are attaching themselves to plastic in coastal waters around the UK.

The next stage will be to analyse how these enzymes work in the natural environment and how they might work in controlled environments where plastic would be the prominent carbon source.

But the researchers emphasise that even if they can narrow down the microbes and encourage their proliferation in an area like the plastic waste patch just found in the South Atlantic, this would be a very slow process.

"It's a bit like imagining how long it would take us to eat something the size of Canary Wharf," says the university's Dr Mark Osborn.

"If you have hundreds of thousands or millions of organisms colonising one piece of plastic then you can imagine the potential for scale up in terms of the rates of potential degradation."

Biological intervention to restore the ocean environment, otherwise known as bioremediation, is a relatively new field and would require careful assessment of any potential consequences.

And most current work is based on stopping plastic getting into the oceans in the first place.

'Diesel' plastic

In Ireland at a plastic fuel plant, Cynar, scientists are using waste plastic to make a synthetic fuel in a process known as plastic pyrolysis.

Plastic waste that would otherwise have ended up in landfill, is cleaned, dried and then heated to more than 300C (570F) in the absence of air.

The resulting molten liquid is turned into a gas which is then fractioned off to produce a diesel-like fuel.

"We do believe this is a terrific solution to a massive issue of landfill diversion as well as fossil fuel alternative," says Cynar's chief executive, Michael Murray.

Pyrolysis has the potential to be set up at waste disposal sites across Europe, with the fuel produced being used to power the waste disposal trucks and machinery.

But it costs money to establish the plants and burn the plastic, and this is only partly recovered by the cost of the fuel generated.

Much of the solution lies in more recycling says Murray, pointing out that only 50% of the 25m tonnes of plastic waste the EU produces every year is recycled.

Recycling and prevention

The challenge is to prevent it reaching landfill in the first place.

Our plastic lifestyle is at the heart of the problem according to Richard Thompson, professor of marine biology at the University of Plymouth.

Varying colours of plastic and different components such as sports caps which are made of different plastic types, make them harder to recycle compared to clear and strong plastic.

Despite campaigns to improve recycling, many plastics - such as food packaging packaging - are still not recyclable.

"The diversity of different polymers and different forms of packaging we use... is compromising the recyclability of the product," Professor Thompson explains.

"The best way to solve this problem is to close the loop, to turn a bottle back into a bottle," he says.

Eighty percent of the plastic in our seas has come from the land where it has either been flushed through drains or blown off landfill sites.

Until there is an effective alternative to dumping, the floating plastic in our oceans will continue to accumulate.
Costing the Earth, Fake Plastic Sea will be broadcast on BBC Radio Four on Wednesday 6th October at 9pm and after on BBC iPlayer

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Scientists are investigating ways of dealing with the millions of tonnes of floating plastic rubbish that is accumulating in our oceans. They are a quirk of ocean currents - a naturally created vortex known as a gyre - where floating rubbish tends to accumulate.

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READ: Wikipedia's account of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch

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READ: Wikipedia's account of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch

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“Trash Island” redirects here. For the Drain Gang album, see Trash Island (album). For other marine gyres in the world’s oceans, see Garbage patch.

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READ: A National Geographic report on the Great Pacific Garbage Patch 

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READ: A National Geographic report on the Great Pacific Garbage Patch 

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The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is a collection of marine debris in the North Pacific Ocean. Marine debris is litter that ends up in the ocean, seas, and other large bodies of water.

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Take a look at the attached map. Select the evidence that shows this is a good example of a transboundary polluting event.

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Oceans are silently choking on our plastic waste. Plastic and synthetic materials are the most common types of debris in our oceans and are having horrific impacts on marine wildlife and systems. As an island continent "girt by sea" marine debris is of particular importance for Australia. Creatures get entangled in plastics and drown and ingested concentrated toxins from plastics pose a threat to the health of the food chain. Plastics also transport and introduce species into new environments. Anja Taylor catches up with the CSIRO research team spearheading the Marine Debris Survey, a world first study of the plastics around our coastline.

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Plastic Oceans | What is the impact of pollution in the sea?

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WATCH: Possible solution to the Great Pacific Garbage Patch

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WATCH: Possible solution to the Great Pacific Garbage Patch

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Speaking on his concept called Marine Litter Extraction, Boyan Slat proposes a radical clean-up solution, for which he won the Best Technical Design award 2012 at the TU Delft.
Additional video here, with more comprehensive details of his Oceans Cleanup Project

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Solution to the Great Pacific Garbage Patch

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Boyan Slat from Ted X Delft Speaking on his concept called Marine Litter Extraction, Boyan Slat proposes a radical clean-up solution, for which he won the Best Technical Design award 2012 at the TU Delft.

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WATCH: Planet 100 - The Pacific Trash Vortex Explained

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WATCH: Planet 100 - The Pacific Trash Vortex Explained

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You've heard about it on the news. You've read about it in blogs, What exactly is the Pacific Trash Vortex? Planet 100 is here to give you the facts. For More Planet 100: http://planetgreen.discovery.com/feat...

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Planet 100: The Pacific Trash Vortex Explained

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You've heard about it on the news. You've read about it in blogs, What exactly is the Pacific Trash Vortex? Planet 100 is here to give you the facts. For More Planet 100: http://planetgreen.discovery.com/feature/planet-100/

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You need to know the meaning of the following terms and be able to define/explain them:

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You need to know the meaning of the following terms and be able to define/explain them:

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TRANSBOUNDARY

POLLUTION

OCEANIC GYRE

VORTEX

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This major transboundary  polluting event focuses on The Pacific Oceanic Gyre (otherwise known as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch or The Pacific Trash Vortex).

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6.2 Environmental Risks
Transboundary pollution (TBP) affecting a large area/more than one country
One TBP case study including the consequences and possible responses