The North Pacific gyre, an accumulation of waste plastic discovered floating in the northern Pacific Ocean – see Plasteurope.com of 25.08.2009 – has been joined by the South Pacific gyre, scientists from The 5 Gyres Institute (www.5gyres.org) say. This marks the first documentation of a defined oceanic garbage patch in the southern hemisphere, a geographical area little researched up to now.

Recently published results of the evidence collected in March-April 2011 in an expedition to Chile show increased density of plastic pollution, with an average of 26,898 particles per square km, culminating in a 396,342 km/m² patch in the center of the predicted accumulation zone. “This confirms the existence of yet another oceanic garbage patch,” said Marcus Eriksen, executive director of the institute, who led the team aboard the 22-metre sailing vessel Sea Dragon.

"Plastic pollution isn't just a North Pacific phenomenon but rather a global problem with global implications for fisheries, tourism, marine ecosystems and human health,” Eriksen said. During 2013, the 5 Gyres Institute will launch three new expeditions – to the North Atlantic, Indian Ocean and Great Lakes, in his words “to provide additional insight to the scope of the problem worldwide.”

Since marine litter first became a topic, the plastics industry has taken an active role in the discussion, led in Europe by the producers’ association PlasticsEurope (Brussels / Belgium; www.plasticseurope.org) and other stakeholders in the sector. Plastics organisations in German-speaking Europe commissioned a study by the ecology think-tank Öko-Institut (Freiburg / Germany; www.oeko.de) as a contribution to the “Declaration for Solutions on Marine Litter“ adopted by more than 50 plastics industry associations globally in 2011 – see Plasteurope.com of 25.11.2011. It is also an attempt to pave the way for a “sound impact assessment” of measures to reduce land-sourced litter most effectively and efficiently, the associations said.

The 60-page data collection with numerous charts and tables looks at the Mediterranean Sea, the North Sea and the Baltic Sea. In terms of marine litter, plastics predominates, said the ecology institute, adding that “whether reported as items or volume or for beach or water column or sea floor, no report refers to plastics having less than a 30% share; some refer to shares of up to 90%.” The dominant segment was found to be packaging (mainly LDPE, PP and PET) and building and construction material (mainly PVC, HDPE and EPS).

Comparing the three seas, the researchers found – perhaps unsurprisingly – that population density, tourism and port activity as factors responsible for plastics debris are at the lowest level in the Baltic, while the North Sea has the highest level of the economic activities at ports. The Mediterranean has the highest pressure from inhabitants and tourism and the least developed waste management systems, making it the highest risk area.

Leading Marine Debris Items ICC data collected from 1989 - 2007
Items	Global	Baltic Sea	North Sea / North Atlantic	Mediterranean Sea
Smoking-related (cigarrettes, filters, lighters, packaging, tips)	26.9%	41.8%	16%	37.4%
Bags (paper / plastic)	9.4%	2.6%	4.1%	4.1%
Caps / lids	9.1%	8.8%	12.4%	6.7%
Food packaging	8.9%	7.7%	12.7%	4%
Cups / plates / cutlery	7.2%	n.a.	4.8%	n.a.
Plastic bottles (<2 litres)	5.5%	6.5%	7.9%	5.1%
Glass bottles	4.8%	5.9%	n.a.	5.5%
Beverage cans	4.6%	4.7%	5.2%	6.3%
Straws / stirrers	4.4%	n.a.	n.a.	4.7%
Clothing / shoes	1.7%	2.5%	n.a.	n.a.
Fishing equipment (lines, nets)	1.7%	n.a.	12.2%	n.a.
Other	15.8%	19.5%	24.7%	26.2%
Total number of debris items	103,247,609	35,925	220,877	49,453
Source: ICC

Despite the severity of the problem, Öko-Institut says the results demonstrate that a lot of progress is still possible within the EU 27 and European Economic Area (EEA) countries to improve waste management and to avoid land-sourced waste. It also points to the industry-led and other projects under way to remedy the situation.

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Study on Land-Sourced Litter (LSL) in the Marine Environment as a PDF document