Re: The world has plenty of plastic
The fact so much of it is fishing nets should make it relatively easy to remove from the ocean once it reaches the "garbage patch". We just need the will to do so.
Yes, a lot of is "microplastics", but we don't have the technology to filter that out of seawater. Not that we should ignore microplastics, but those "large plastics" will eventually break down and become microplastics so removing them before they make that problem even larger should be a near term goal.
We'll probably need years of research to figure out a good way to deal with the microplastics, but if we can leave less of that problem to deal with by taking care of the big stuff now why shouldn't we?
Too often the perfect is the enemy of the good, and when someone points out something like how large a percentage of large plastics are fishing nets and thus should be easy to deal with we hear someone moaning about how that's only part of the problem - making it easier for those who want to ignore the problem entirely to get their way.
And maybe the international community ought to consider passing laws to make plastic fishing nets illegal by some set date. Go back to older technologies for nets, or make them out of bioplastics that won't contribute the pollution problem.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
