Plastics waste islands are giant clusters of plastics in the oceans. From a distance, you can see a large spot on the surface of the water. Further getting close to it you clearly see plastic bags, containers, and piece of plastics that forms it.
These large spots of garbage in the seas are undoubtedly the fault of human beings, of course. As we are the only species over the planet, who invented and consumed this harmful material and threw it casually.
Hike over the plastic island is one of the threatening environmental problems; that is the non-degradable thing. However, some people even burn their waste plastic, instead of sending it for recycling locations. This burning is not a quick solution, as it leads to harmful gases that spread over the layer of atmosphere.
Therefore, plastic has severe consequences on the planet that we can not even dream of. Before discussing about the serious plastic issues, let’s get to know some examples of the causes of this problem better.
Causes Of Plastic Islands In The Oceans:
- Do not recycle properly.
- Illegal spills.
- Airplanes that fly over the oceans
- Boats of all kinds.
- The people who dirty the beaches.
- The rivers that flow with contaminated water in the seas and oceans.
- The strong winds that drag garbage to the waters.
How Plastic Islands Are Formed:
Some people wonder how the island of garbage takes place. Well, such a massive amount of plastic wastes, metals, and more harmful deposits gets collected within a span of years. As we have already mentioned, it is a large grouping of all residues, mainly of plastic origin, which accumulates in oceanic waters.
The reason all wastes end here is that everything we see, even on land or in rivers, ends up going down to the seas and oceans. Also, there are marine and ocean currents that are the ones. In fact, the movement of the wind is also a significant factor that blows the garbage from one place to another.
For example, in the South Pacific Ocean, we find one of the largest garbage islands there is today because it can be seen floating from afar and discovered in 2011. Another is the also known garbage spot of the North Atlantic, founded in 2009.
How Many Plastic Islands Are There?
In 2016, 5 large plastic islands; registered on the planet. However, there are all sizes of oceans and seas, so we can say that there are thousands of them. As, there are plastic islands in the Mediterranean, in the Caribbean, as well as in the Pacific, Atlantic, and the Indian Ocean.
The difference is undoubtedly the size and that many of them are temporary in these areas. Because they move around the ocean currents and, most of them, end up being part of the large ones.
Consequences Of The Plastic Islands:
The islands of plastics waste are a danger for the entire planet and every living species. However, still, people believe that being far from these won’t affect the problem on a personal level, but it does. Among the main consequences of the islands of garbage are:
- Deaths of millions of animals a year.
- Mammal and plant kind in danger of destruction.
- Pollution of the waters, in which we then bathe or use in some way.
- Changes in the climate, for example, is closely related to climate change.
People with difficulties to find food in the sea, as they usually did. We talk about economically underdeveloped populations, and that are fishing villages and severely affected by this environmental problem.
What To Do To Solve The Problem Of Plastic Islands:
For the scientists who study the problem, and for the relevant authorities, the tracking of dumping garbage is really tricky. Since many are accidental or have little information on the subject and others are illegal spills.
However, on a personal level, we can do a lot to improve this problem. Especially if we add what each one can do because of the more involved, the higher the effect. These are tips on possible solutions for plastic and garbage islands:
- Recycle as much waste as you can, either in containers or at clean points or, failing that, reuse.
- Maintain associations that- devoted to this ending.
- It helps spread the problem and raise awareness.
- Volunteer to clean water and beaches, as waste; removed and properly recycled or managed.
- Report to the authorities the infractions that you know or see committing on this matter.
How Does A Plastic Island Affect The Planet?
Although a Plastic Island In The Ocean middle may seem very distant to us. But the truth is that it affects the entire planet directly and indirectly. Its consequences are real, although we cannot see them directly or immediately. These are just a few:
1. Contaminated Water: Water is contaminated because plastics have a meager degradation rate. That means that they spend decades or even centuries floating in the sea, which harms not only the marine flora and fauna but also the human being through the food chain.
2. Endangered Animals: Millions of animals die annually from the plastic intake or because they get entangled in them. This means that the affected species are in danger of extinction. In the Mediterranean Sea, plastic intake threatens 134 species.
3. Food Scarcity: Fishing communities have a harder time finding food at sea, which then affects them economically by having fewer products to sell.
How Do Refugees Help Fight Pollution?
Inadequate management of our waste translates into the worsening of climate change. Thus the level of severe droughts, desertification, rising temperatures, floods have also increased and threatening. This causes displaced people in the context of climate change.
The concern for the care of the environment is global. In fact, refugees also carry out actions aimed at caring for the planet. In the refugee camps of Sanliurfa or Kilis, in Turkey, the implementation of different recycling plans; planned. Thus a waste transfer station and a fleet of vehicles that transport the waste for further treatment.
In Egypt, refugees work alongside the local community to fight plastic pollution on the Nile River. Fifty volunteer refugees from Sudan, Somalia, Syria, Ethiopia, and Yemen joined 800 Egyptian citizens to try to reduce pollution in the river, whose ecosystem; threatened by waste.
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