Great Pacific Garbage Patch

On my vacation to Orange Beach last week, I noticed this plastic jug while I was relaxing in a beach chair reading a book. I watched it for a while, wondering if the water would reach it, taking it into the ocean with its force. The water was close, but it didn't quite reach it. I knew, however, that in a matter of time, the high tide would sweep in and take it away because nobody was going to pick it up. I watched for ten minutes while people stepped over it or around it. Who wants to be responsible for trash when they're strolling or relaxing on the beach? Nobody does, and that's exactly why it's there in the first place. Nobody felt like throwing it away, so they left it. And now it ended up here, right on the ocean's edge, just waiting for it a wave to sweep it away.

As I watched for these ten minutes, I contemplated what would happen to this jug if it were to go into the ocean. Where would it drift? How long would it take to decompose? Would it end up in someone's fishing net? Would that fisherman throw it back into the ocean when he realized that he caught yet another piece of garbage that he would just have to drag back onto shore?

The Great Pacific Garbage Patch came to mind. My friends and I went through a phase last semester where we discussed it a lot (I guess because I was learning about it in a class). I'm not an expert on this, so I'd rather not explain in great detail what it is for fear of me releasing false information, but here's a trust-worthy link further explaining what the Great Pacific Garbage Patch is.

To sum it up for those of you that aren't interested in the site, there are a ton of different currents in the ocean along with a ton of garbage from humans (mostly from boats). The trash is caught in these currents and drifts. Some trash sinks, some trash (like paper goods) breaks down, some is eaten by sea life, and some (primarily plastic) will continue to travel with the currents (possibly breaking down into smaller bits), and, depending on where it is released into the ocean, ends up in this "Garbage Patch." 

Here's an image of the currents, so you get a better idea.

There are two notable patches found in the Pacific. I was told last year in a class at LSU, that the Patch goes on for miles, but the site I linked you to says that the small amount of research that has been done makes it hard to properly predict the size.

Now of course, I retrieved the plastic jug and tossed it into a recycling bin on my way back to my grandmother's condo, but if that jug would have gone into the Gulf of Mexico, it probably would have been taken by a current into the Atlantic. There it would have caught another current, and then who knows where it would have ended up.The point is, the existence of that jug is completely unnecessary. We don't need to buy plastic jugs of water when we have free water running out of our sinks, and reusable jugs to fill. And even if it must be bought, it could be reused or recycled or simply sent to a landfill. It doesn't have to go into the ocean or onto the beach. I understand that on vacation that may be difficult, but it's just something to think about.

The Garbage Patch is something that has inspired me in the beginning to pursue Zero Waste. I catch myself wondering how much trash I've produced in my lifetime, and how much of that trash is floating around in the ocean. I hope it can inspire you, too, if only a little.