# The Great Pacific Garbage Patch - real or hoax?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-pacific-garbage-patch-real-or-hoax/492658
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [April 10, 2009, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-pacific-garbage-patch-real-or-hoax/492658 "2009-04-10T16:44:47Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@shallora](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shallora)
#### Post date: [April 10, 2009, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-pacific-garbage-patch-real-or-hoax/492658/1 "2009-04-10T16:44:47Z")
A leftist conspirist environmental alarmist (redundant adjectives, I know) friend of mine told me of a “Great Pacific Garbage Patch” of discarded floating plastic bottles circling the Pacific Ocean.
Supposedly, this floating garbage patch is “twice the size of Texas” and up to 300 feet deep in places.
The only references I can find to it are on OTHER environmental alarmist web sites . . . i.e., I can’t find a credible non-biased source that this GPGP exists.
Help, anyone?
---
### Author:  [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)
#### Post date: [April 10, 2009, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-pacific-garbage-patch-real-or-hoax/492658/2 "2009-04-10T16:46:11Z")
Was an article on it in National Geographic magazine some months back.
---
### Author:  [@Philster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philster)
#### Post date: [April 10, 2009, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-pacific-garbage-patch-real-or-hoax/492658/3 "2009-04-10T16:51:45Z")
Real.
> **[Great Pacific garbage patch](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Pacific_Garbage_Patch)**
>
> The Great Pacific garbage patch (also Pacific trash vortex and North Pacific garbage patch) is a garbage patch, a gyre of marine debris particles, in the central North Pacific Ocean. It is located roughly from 135°W to 155°W and 35°N to 42°N. The collection of plastic and floating trash originates from the Pacific Rim, including countries in Asia, North America, and South America.
> Despite the common public perception of the patch existing as giant islands of floating garbage, its low density (...
---
### Author:  [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)
#### Post date: [April 10, 2009, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-pacific-garbage-patch-real-or-hoax/492658/4 "2009-04-10T16:52:30Z")
You might not notice it from a cruise ship, it’s not that dense. Much like the Sargasso sea. But it’s real, if exaggerated.
> **[Great Pacific garbage patch](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Pacific_Garbage_Patch)**
>
> The Great Pacific garbage patch (also Pacific trash vortex and North Pacific garbage patch) is a garbage patch, a gyre of marine debris particles, in the central North Pacific Ocean. It is located roughly from 135°W to 155°W and 35°N to 42°N. The collection of plastic and floating trash originates from the Pacific Rim, including countries in Asia, North America, and South America.
> Despite the common public perception of the patch existing as giant islands of floating garbage, its low density (...
So, basicly in each square yard, there are 3 very small peices of plastic, on average.
---
### Author:  [@George\_Kaplin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/George_Kaplin)
#### Post date: [April 10, 2009, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-pacific-garbage-patch-real-or-hoax/492658/5 "2009-04-10T16:54:23Z")
[Wikipedia article on it.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Pacific_Garbage_Patch)
[How Stuff Works article on it.](http://science.howstuffworks.com/great-pacific-garbage-patch.htm)
[Discover Magazine article on it.](http://discovermagazine.com/2008/jul/10-the-worlds-largest-dump)
[A few YouTube videos on it](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tnUjTHB1lvM)
[Independent article on it.](http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/the-worlds-rubbish-dump-a-garbage-tip-that-stretches-from-hawaii-to-japan-778016.html)
Hope this helps 🙂
---
### Author:  [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)
#### Post date: [April 10, 2009, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-pacific-garbage-patch-real-or-hoax/492658/6 "2009-04-10T16:56:42Z")
This is pretty well-documented, too. Even a cursory Google search turns up articles by CNN and the New York Times, unless **shallora** has deemed these “leftist conspiracist environmentalist alarmist” publications as well. Which doesn’t prove much, but you don’t have to rely on fringe sites or blogs to read about this.
---
### Author:  [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)
#### Post date: [April 10, 2009, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-pacific-garbage-patch-real-or-hoax/492658/7 "2009-04-10T16:57:12Z")
It really exists, but it’s not nearly as densely packed with debris as you might imagine. I’ve heard it described as an “island” of garbage, which is, well, garbage. From the Wikipedia article
> [@](#):
>
> [A 2001] study found concentrations of plastics at 3.34 pieces with a mean mass of **5.1 milligrams per square meter.** (my bolding)
---
### Author:  [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)
#### Post date: [April 10, 2009, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-pacific-garbage-patch-real-or-hoax/492658/8 "2009-04-10T17:02:00Z")
It’s not a big patch of floating garbage, however. You probably wouldn’t even notice it if you were boating through.
> [@](#):
>
> Despite Charles Moore’s description, the eastern garbage patch cannot be characterised as a continuous visible field of densely floating marine debris. The process of disintegration means that the plastic particulate in much of the affected region may be too small to be seen. Researchers must estimate the overall extent and density of plastic pollution in the EGP by taking samples. In a 2001 study, researchers (including Moore) found that in certain areas of the patch, concentrations of plastic reached one million particles per square mile.[8]
---
### Author:  [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)
#### Post date: [April 10, 2009, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-pacific-garbage-patch-real-or-hoax/492658/9 "2009-04-10T17:08:15Z")
The fact that the individual particles are small doesn’t mean that it’s not a problem – various critters end up consuming the plastic, which can either kill said critters or get toxins from the plastic into the food chain.
---
### Author:  [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)
#### Post date: [April 10, 2009, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-pacific-garbage-patch-real-or-hoax/492658/10 "2009-04-10T17:16:08Z")
> [@Dinsdale](#):
>
> Was an article on it in National Geographic magazine some months back.
Oops - I most likely was misremembering the article in Discover (both of which we subscribe to). Just didn’t want anyone to go diving into their yellow-spined back issues and call me a liar! 😛
---
### Author:  [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)
#### Post date: [April 10, 2009, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-pacific-garbage-patch-real-or-hoax/492658/11 "2009-04-10T17:22:28Z")
I first read about it in _The World Without Us_ by Alan Weisman.
---
### Author:  [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)
#### Post date: [April 10, 2009, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-pacific-garbage-patch-real-or-hoax/492658/12 "2009-04-10T17:45:27Z")
[Previous thread on the subject](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=9450802&highlight=gyre#post9450802).
I would point out that this has periodically been reported on in the regular media too, over several years. This isn’t some secret, it’s not new, it’s well-known.
It’s just that people are generally in denial about environmental damage because they feel threatened and overwhelmed, to the point that they dismiss stories like this as “non-credible alarmist bias.”
---
### Author:  [@ivn1188](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivn1188)
#### Post date: [April 10, 2009, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-pacific-garbage-patch-real-or-hoax/492658/13 "2009-04-10T20:00:49Z")
Well, when described as a “floating island of garbage” it is a bit alarmist, no? Just like if you said Palm Beach has high levels of radiation. True in a way, but not in the way people would assume you meant.
---
### Author:  [@NurseCarmen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NurseCarmen)
#### Post date: [April 10, 2009, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-pacific-garbage-patch-real-or-hoax/492658/14 "2009-04-10T20:41:39Z")
Cruising World had an article on it a couple years back. It’s not just little things floating around. The circular nature of the Pacific current tends to draw all garbage into the gyre. Balls, bags, buckets, all the way up to shipping containers. But don’t expect to pull a Jesus and walk on the water, it is too spread out for that. And since it is in an area of the Pacific known to be rather calm (the Doldrums) it takes a long time for it to break down. The problem is that the area is rich with life because for eons it was just organic matter that went there. Now those animals are eating a lot of garbage with their organic matter. Sucks to be them.
But it really shouldn’t be of any surprise to anyone that has walked along any length of undeveloped oceanfront. Garbage is everywhere.
---
### Author:  [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)
#### Post date: [February 17, 2010, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-pacific-garbage-patch-real-or-hoax/492658/15 "2010-02-17T18:42:42Z")
A recent report: [TOXIC: Garbage Island - CNN.com](http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/americas/02/16/vbs.toxic.garbage.island/index.html?hpt=C1)
---
### Author:  [@Surly\_Chick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Surly_Chick)
#### Post date: [February 17, 2010, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-pacific-garbage-patch-real-or-hoax/492658/16 "2010-02-17T18:53:56Z")
[hijack]When I was in Kosovo, I witnessed this phenomena on a smaller scale. There was a lake that was literally half covered in plastic bottles. The pack would travel depending on which way the wind was blowing. The most disheartening thing was to see people fishing in the half that wasn’t covered by bottles. [/hijack]
---
### Author:  [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)
#### Post date: [February 17, 2010, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-pacific-garbage-patch-real-or-hoax/492658/17 "2010-02-17T19:32:01Z")
I see them washed up on the beach (boaters use them for baling and floats). It seems to me that the plastic becomes brittle and breaks into pieces-does it eventually disintegrate?
---
### Author:  [@conway](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/conway)
#### Post date: [February 17, 2010, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-pacific-garbage-patch-real-or-hoax/492658/18 "2010-02-17T20:13:49Z")
> [@George\_Kaplin](#):
>
> [Wikipedia article on it.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Pacific_Garbage_Patch)
>
> [How Stuff Works article on it.](http://science.howstuffworks.com/great-pacific-garbage-patch.htm)
>
> [Discover Magazine article on it.](http://discovermagazine.com/2008/jul/10-the-worlds-largest-dump)
>
> [A few YouTube videos on it](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tnUjTHB1lvM)
>
> [Independent article on it.](http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/the-worlds-rubbish-dump-a-garbage-tip-that-stretches-from-hawaii-to-japan-778016.html)
>
> Hope this helps 🙂
[A SD Staff Report](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2893/why-dont-we-ever-see-pictures-of-the-floating-island-of-garbage)
[And one of Cecil’s columns that mentions it..](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2709/could-the-floating-islands-of-life-of-pi-really-exist)
---
### Author:  [@mitabelli](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mitabelli)
#### Post date: [February 21, 2010, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-pacific-garbage-patch-real-or-hoax/492658/19 "2010-02-21T22:00:06Z")
I am sorry to say that this is a very real thing. Scripts Research facility sent out a group of scientists last summer to investigate the area. Their findings should be publish soon if not already. I would go to their website.
---
### Author:  [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)
#### Post date: [February 22, 2010, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-pacific-garbage-patch-real-or-hoax/492658/20 "2010-02-22T14:01:32Z")
I mean flotsam is colonized by barnicles, and baricles attract fish, and fish attract birds and larger fish.
Oil rigs act as artificial reefs-so doesn’t all that floating junk have some real benefits?
Like tha sargasso Sea-it turns the desrt-like mid-ocean into productive life zones.
[Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-pacific-garbage-patch-real-or-hoax/492658.md?page=2)