The world's largest landfill threatens marine life

Captain Charles Moore's floating landfill in the Pacific region is said to be equivalent to the United States with a capacity of 100,000 tons of waste according to ocean currents from the east and west directions.

90% of the waste here is plastic waste, of which 20% is waste from ships, boats and offshore oil rigs, the rest comes from the mainland.

Because it is lighter than water, plastic waste is easy to float on the sea surface. When they met, they formed floating landfills that grew from year to year.

Part of the landfill floating Captain Charles Moore in the Pacific Ocean. (Photo: The Island Guardian)

Plastic debris can also be washed up on the beach by waves. In fact, many cases of marine animals, especially seabirds, were misplaced and quickly died.

In addition to the pile of rubbish, about 70% of plastic waste is sunk to the bottom of the sea. That amount of waste also poses many risks to the life of the ocean under the ocean.

Having a sponge-like property, plastic is often used to clean up oil. However, because of that, when falling into the sea, plastic waste is easily absorbed by toxins from oil derivatives and can be transmitted into the organism through the food chain, causing harm to marine flora and fauna.

The United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) estimates that more than 1 million seabirds and 100,000 marine mammals have died in this way.

Mr. Marcus Eriksen of the Algalita Sea Research Foundation (based in the US) has also emphasized the threat of plastic waste on human life."Plastic waste easily absorbs chemicals such as hy-dro carbon or DDT pesticides," he explains. At first it goes into the digestive system of the organism, then will be present in our meal '.

Despite the high risk but due to a wide range of influences, there has been no truly effective solution to prevent the threat of landfills floating like Captain Charles Moore in addition to conducting warfare. shoreline cleaning and garbage disposal from the mainland.