Statehood for Pacific plastic?

BANGKOK: For a state that does not even exist, the Trash Isles have come far. The great garbage patch in the Pacific Ocean — floating some where between Japan and Hawaii — has a coat-of-arms with the slogan “The ocean needs us,” a blue-and-white flag with a green triangle, a currency called “debris” and postage stamps with images of fish, birds and turtles.

The Trash Isles even have an honorary citizen: former US vicepresident Al Gore.

All they are lacking now is international recognition, be it from the United Nations or anyone else.

There’s a big hitch: Anyone trying to set foot on the Trash Isles will sink into the water — for the Trash Isles are really just the name for the huge volume of plastic in Pacific.

The problem is getting worse, which is why activists have come up with the idea to draw the world’s attention to it. There is a gigantic, if loose, carpet of bottles, sacks, packaging and all kinds of other synthetic refuse spreading across the Pacific. Most of it eventually disintegrates into tiny plastic particles that float just below the water’s surface and so are barely discernible.

Scientists began warning two decades ago about what is now called the “Great Pacific Garbage Patch” and experts now estimate its size to beat least 700,000 square kilometres, or larger than France.

But public awareness or interest in the problem remains limited since the mass is drifting through waters rarely seen by ships or vacationers.

There is already about 140 million tonnes of plastic trash floating in the planet’s oceans. — dpa