• Atlantis has been found - and it's made of plastic OCT 26, 2010

    • Well, actually it’s not really Atlantis – but it’s just as incredible.

      Imagine an area the size of Russia.

      Then imagine that it’s made out of plastic.

      Ocean currents have created several gigantic “plastic soups” around the world. Combined they cover an area the size of Russia. It’s not solid plastic, of course. It’s much worse (watch the video).

      What is a plastic soup?

      Briefly put, the plastic soup is created by our everyday use of plastic products – for example plastic bottles and plastic bags. A lot of this ends up in the ocean.

      When plastics float around in the water, they break down into tiny pieces. These are eaten by fish, birds, whales, shell fish,…well, you name it! And in the plastic soup there are 6 kilos of plastic to every one kilo of plankton.

      This is not without consequences.

      A toxic soup

      Plastics also contain all sorts of dangerous chemicals. These cannot be digested and they build up in living organisms.

      Fish and shellfish contain toxic chemicals at concentrations as high as nine MILLION times the water they swim in.

      And in the ocean, chemicals can spread even to the most unlikely of places.

      For example, scientists have found hormone disrupting phthalates in a species of deep sea jellyfish that lives 1,000 meters below the surface of the North Atlantic.

      This is really spooky stuff!

      And it continues

      Every year we dump another 10 million tons of plastic into the oceans – making the plastic soup even bigger. This plastic is made to stay. It literally takes thousands of years to be broken down.

      See how the plastic soup is growing here

      And watch the video

      Links