In addition, not all trash floats on the surface. The North Pacific Subtropical Gyre is too large for scientists to trawl. No one knows how much debris makes up the GPGP. Many plastics, for instance, do not wear down they simply break into tinier and tinier pieces. The amount of debris in the GPGP accumulates because much of it is not biodegradable. The patch is actually comprised of the Western Garbage Patch, located near Japan, and the Eastern Garbage Patch, located between the U.S. It is also known as the Pacific trash vortex and spans waters from the West Coast of North America to Japan. The plan is to now scale up the device and make it more durable so it can retain plastic for up to a year or possibly longer before collection is necessary.The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is a collection of marine debris in the North Pacific Ocean. “I think in a few years’ time when we have the full-scale fleet out there, I think it should be possible to cover the operational cost of the cleanup operation using the plastic harvested,” Slat said. The project believes there may be a premium market for items that have been made using plastic reclaimed from the ocean. The plastic gathered so far will be brought to shore in December for recycling. “We now have a self-contained system in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch that is using the natural forces of the ocean to passively catch and concentrate plastics … This now gives us sufficient confidence in the general concept to keep going on this project.” He said: “We are now catching plastics … After beginning this journey seven years ago, this first year of testing in the unforgivable environment of the high seas strongly indicates that our vision is attainable and that the beginning of our mission to rid the ocean of plastic garbage, which has accumulated for decades, is within our sights. Slat told a press conference in Rotterdam that the problem he was seeking to solve was the vast expense that would come with using a trawler to collect plastics.
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