Algalita Marine Research Blog

Guess what?  In order to add drama to California's proposed state wide plastic bag ban, the good folks over at the ACC have unearthed a startling revelation.  Dirty reusable bags are in fact, dirty.  That means if you don't wash your reusable bag from time to time, it's going to get dirty. Just like your underwear or your socks do if you don't wash them.  We've seen the ACC do some pretty dumb things over the years trying to justify their contribution to the global marine eco-disaster that is plastic pollution in the ocean, but this one takes the cake. What's next? Reminding us that cream will curdle in your reusable coffee cup if left in the sun?  Thanks ACC, good job keeping us safe!  Read the full story here.  

Team member Stiv reporting here. I'm not a pro film maker, but I was able to put a bit of footage together that I shot on our expedition in January and February of this year.  It captures a bit of the essence of what it's like to sail the ocean searching for plastic.

Thanks to our new friends at Dentsu America for this amazing graphic, beautifully illustrating the concept of "bio accumulation". In short, tiny fish eats plastic particles, bigger fish eats many smaller fish, Octopus eats bigger fish, we eat Octopus, or Tuna, or Mahi Mahi --

Now what's ending up on our dinner plate? This is one of the big questions.

We gave a presentation at Dentsu the other month, invited by Jesse Nicely, a business savvy designer/brand strategist who has been following the plastics issue.  After popping in last week to brainstorm with him, his inspired co-worked Kim Linn designed this graphic! We're excited to formulating some projects with Jesse and the Dentsu team that focus on realistic solutions for businesses that use plastics. Helping these businesses make the right choice will go a long way towards solving this issue on land. Thanks Dentsu!

By, Dr. Marcus Eriksen, cofounder, The 5 Gyres Institute

Stand on any island in the 5 Gyres and you'll see the plastic come to you. First a bottle cap, a cigarette lighter, maybe even a fishing buoy, washing up among millions of tiny fragments of plastic confetti.  If you want to get plastic out of the 5 gyres, islands are the natural nets to capture plastic, with no need for ships, no carbon footprint, no damage to marine life in the process, just a steady stream of fuel coming your way.  Contrary to popular belief, the gyres do kick it out and the islands catch it.

What's that?  Did I say fuel?  YES. 8% of a barrel of oil is plastic, 4% is the raw material and 4% the energy required to polymerize the stuff.  Polyethylene and polypropylene wash up in heaping piles on the Hawaiian Islands, Bermuda and the Azores in the North Atlantic, Mauritius in the Indian Ocean, St. Helena and Ascencion Island in the S. Atlantic, and dozens more islands in the S. Pacific.  

But what can you do with all that plastic?  Plasma. We visited Pyrogenesis in Montreal, Canada recently to learn about waste to energy from plastic pollution.  "It can burn anything, from circuit boards to fish bones, and certainly all that plastic washed up on beaches," they explained to us.  "How about a dead housecat?" I asked.  "Sure, I'm sure that would work," he answered with a chuckle.  Imagine a device that shreds waste and passes it through a lightening bolt, using the exhaust gasses produced to power engines to run the machine.  As long as you can feed it plastic, it produces more power than it needs to run itself.  Net positive power, no dioxins or furans produced, less need to import fossil fuels to make energy, less landfill space occupied, and cleaner beaches.

Okay, this works as a viable post-consumer plan.  We know the real solutions are source reduction, not treating symptoms.  But with estimates of 3-5 million tons of plastic pollution in the world's oceans, there must be a plan to deal with the waste we have, while we turn off the tap.

Anyone who's feeling down in the dumps about our planetary prospects should spend more time with kids. This morning, we finished up our 25th school visit in 6 months, visiting over 5,000 students around Los Angeles. These kids "get it", especially when they learn about how marine animals are harmed by plastic trash.

Earlier this week we met a remarkable young 9 year old from La Ballona Elementary - Devin Newman, who is clearly an emerging poet. She whipped out 2 poems for us during our visit, printed them on the spot, and handed them to us as we walked out. These are the kinds of moments that keep us going....thank you Devin! We'll be keeping tabs on this future leader. Here are 2 of her many, many poems - we have a feeling there are more to come!

OUR PLANET EARTH                               HELP OUR PLANET!

If we work together,                                    What I'm sayingAnd don’t make a fuss.                               Is not fantasticWe’ll make Earth healthy,                           Fish in the oceanAnd she’ll protect us.                                  Are eating plastic!Now we bring our own bags,                      Trash and garbage in the seaAnd we recycle our waste.                          Why couldn't all of this We were sticking together,                          Have happened to me?Like bricks on paste.                                   I will ask all of you We save energy,                                         How you would've feltAnd we do the three R’s.                            In an arctic that'sAnd we take bikes to school,                      Beginning to meltInstead of driving in cars.                           Lots and lots of angry mobsDon’t turn up the heat,                               Are swarmingYou know you can do better.                      Because of the cause of global warming

So grab a blanket,Or wear a sweater.                       It is causing,A lot of commotion.When trash and plastic,Is in the ocean.

  - Devin Newman, age 9

Louis Hoock, aka "Captain Hook", has launched his 10,000 mile trip to clean the gyres by focusing on beach cleanup. As he says, "Gyre cleanup is impractical by going to the gyres.  You will spend less time and money, smaller carbon footprint, and not kill marine life, if you go to the islands and let the plastic come to you."

Captain Hook has launched an effort to sail 10,000 miles on the West Coast to cleanup plastic garbage and 5 Gyres let him a Manta Trawl to collect samples as he goes.  Nice work Captain Hoock we're interested in seeing the cost per pound for beach recovery vs. gyre recovery. Bon voyage!

Inspired by the movie “Addicted to Plastic,” a six-store grocery chain on the east coast is banning the sale of bottled water in their stores, installing in-store water filtration systems and eliminating unnecessarily-bagged produce.   

“Societies are truly addicted to plastic, much in the way we are addicted to oil,” said Scott Nash, founder and CEO of Rockville, Md.-based MOM’s. “The tragic part of our addiction is that, by and large, petroleum-based plastics are not necessary for consumer products and packaging, as we have the technology and innovation to use plastic products that biodegrade.”

 Click here for the full story.