Green Options

The “Great Pacific Ocean Garbage Patch” lies about 1,000 miles from the coast of California. It is in the North Pacific Ocean Gyre, which is one of the oldest and most diverse ecosystems in the world. The garbage patch has gotten a lot of media attention in the last year. However, due to the fact that one must get on a boat and go all the way out to the patch to study it, there hadn’t been any in-depth scientific analysis of the patch,… until now.

The Scripps Environmental Accumulation of Plastic Expedition (SEAPLEX) went on an in-depth search of the “Great Pacific Ocean Garbage Patch” this month. Their findings were varied.

Now that Oprah has turned her spotlight on the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, that great mass of garbage floating in the ocean has finally caught the public eye.  An upcoming ocean garbage expedition to the patch, dubbed Project Kaisei, should draw even more attention when it launches this summer.  Project Kaisei’s aim is to explore the feasibility of collecting and recycling the garbage patch, which mainly consists of plastics, into diesel fuel.  How feasible is it?  A modest derelict fishing net recycling program in Hawaii provides some tantalizing clues.