The Great Pacific Garbage Patch: The True Scale of an Environmental Problem
In the Pacific Ocean, between Hawaii and California, a vast expanse of trash known as the Plastic Continent has formed, covering an area of 1.6 million square kilometers. To put this into perspective, this area is equivalent to combining the Latin American countries of Chile, Paraguay, Ecuador, and Surinam.
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The improper disposal of solid waste, especially single-use plastics, is a global issue. These wastes accumulate in marine areas, harming ecosystems and species. According to Greenpeace (2018), 9 out of 10 seabirds, 1 in 3 sea turtles, and over half of whale and dolphin species have ingested plastic.
The impact of plastic accumulation increases yearly. The Ocean Cleanup organization reports a vast garbage patch in the Pacific between Hawaii and California, spanning about 1.6 million square kilometers and containing over 1.8 trillion plastic pieces weighing around 80,000 tons. This is equivalent to 250 units of garbage dumped by every human in the world.
Mass Concentration Model - The Ocean Cleanup
Based on this research, the approximate area of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch is comparable to the combined total area of countries like Chile (755,934 km²), Paraguay (406,750 km²), Ecuador (283,561 km²), and Suriname (163,820 km²). The combined area of these countries illustrates the magnitude of the plastic island.
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According to Colombia’s National Plan for the Sustainable Management of Single-Use Plastics, if adequate policies are not implemented, there will be 12 billion tons of plastic waste worldwide by 2050. To combat this, Colombia removed eight types of single-use plastics from the market as of July 6, 2024, under Ley 2232 de 2022.
This is a high impact initiative because according to Greenpeace, 56% of the daily waste in Colombia is single-use plastics. The country produces 1.4 million tons of plastic annually, equivalent to the weight of 34 thousand commercial airplanes, and only recycles 20% according to data from ACOPLÁSTICOS. Among the plastics that are not commercialized as established by law, are balloon sticks, cotton swabs, straws, sugar mixers, rolls of empty bags in commercial surfaces, packaging bags, point-of-payment bags and laundry bags.
WWF and the Ministerio del Medio Ambiente state that on average, a Colombian uses six bags a week, 24 a month, 288 a year and 22,176 over a lifetime of 77 years. Each bag takes 15 minutes to produce but 400 years to degrade, so it usually ends up in the environment, especially in the oceans.