Size of ocean garbage patch exaggerated

WASHINGTON - A lot of plastic trash is floating on the Pacific Ocean but claims that the ‘Great Garbage Patch’ between California and Japan is twice the size of Texas are grossly exaggerated, new analysis shows.

Further claims that the oceans are filled with more plastic than plankton, and that the patch has been growing 10-fold each decade since the 1950s are equally misleading, Angelicque “Angel” White of Oregon State University said.

“There is no doubt that the amount of plastic in the world’s oceans is troubling, but this kind of exaggeration undermines the credibility of scientists,” said White, assistant professor of oceanography at Oregon State.

The studies have shown that the hypothetically “cohesive” plastic patch is actually less than one percent of Texas’ size.

“The amount of plastic out there isn’t trivial,” White said.

“But using the highest concentrations ever reported by scientists produces a patch that is a small fraction of the state of Texas, not twice the size.”