> The plastic concentration is estimated to be up to 100 kilograms per square kilometer in the center, [...]
That is .1g/m^2 (0.3moz/ft^2 [1]). The weight of the plastic cap of a bottle is approximately 2.4g (85moz). So you need to sweep an area of 24m^2 (260ft^2) to recover the equivalent of a plastic cap. That's approximately 18 plastic caps in the area of a basketball court.
[1] 0.3 milliounces per square foot, I don't know the best unit to show this.
As I was doing research in response (thank you for the citation), I realized I stated an incorrect fact that the gyres are very concentrated, but still stand by the statement that they would be excellent “mines” for plastic.
Part of what makes the volume so hard to determine is the current which carries all the garbage in a circle.
At a certain stage it would be worthwhile to simply “park” something in the current and have the plastic come to you. Be it a boat or something like an oil rig, there’s very little “sweeping” required in order to collect the plastic.
It's amazing how it is unrelated to the level of concentration that is seen in the photos that illustrate the press articles https://www.google.com/search?q=Great+Pacific+garbage+patch&...
I tried to find the source of the first one, I guess it's from a bay or some place that concentrate garbage. There are some kind of mountains or islands on the left ...
Probably it is more effective to clean the stream of a few rivers that carry most of the plastics to the sea. The concentration in higher and it's easier to setup, repair and operate the nets.
> The plastic concentration is estimated to be up to 100 kilograms per square kilometer in the center, [...]
That is .1g/m^2 (0.3moz/ft^2 [1]). The weight of the plastic cap of a bottle is approximately 2.4g (85moz). So you need to sweep an area of 24m^2 (260ft^2) to recover the equivalent of a plastic cap. That's approximately 18 plastic caps in the area of a basketball court.
[1] 0.3 milliounces per square foot, I don't know the best unit to show this.