Researchers have estimated the five biggest patches of garbage in the world's ocean based on current models, detailing their findings in a new study.
"We've redefined how one should draw the borders of the oceans," said coauthor and mathematician Gary Froyland, at University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia, as quoted by Inside Science. "It's more scientifically meaningful to draw the boundaries according to where the water moves as opposed to just the legal, geographical boundaries."
Eventually, the research could help scientists pinpoint the world's largest plastic polluters as well as which areas have wildlife affected by the trash. Some garbage patches are estimated to be twice the size of Texas.
Found in the north and south Atlantic, the north and south Pacific, and the middle of the Indian Ocean, the five biggest garbage patches hold litter that has fallen off boats, been left in beaches or washed into the ocean from rivers.
"If you throw out your plastic on a beach somewhere in California, or somewhere in Virginia, then how does that move through the ocean and in which ocean basin will it get into?" asked oceanographer Erik van Sebille, also at the University of New South Wales, as quoted by Inside Science.
Even though whole pieces of litter come into the ocean, the patches of debris aren't islands of trash; instead, they are a thin film on the water since waves and ultraviolet light break the trash into much smaller chunks.
While few animals live in the garbage patches, which are formed by swirling ocean currents, the broken plastic is toxic and spreads easily through the water. Cleaning up the debris would be an impossible task since picking up all the tiny pieces would remove plankton and small animals as well.
"It is much more important and much more useful to stop putting plastic in the ocean in the first place," said van Sebille. "Most of the harm is done where most of the creatures live, and that's actually close to the coast."
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