Fig. 5
From: Evaluating the environmental impact of cleaning the North Pacific Garbage Patch
Estimated carbon cycle impacts in million metric tons of carbon (Mt C) per year in the North Pacific Garbage Patch (NPGP). Values for cleanup (light blue) represent greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from vessels during cleanup (Table S10), while photodegradation (dark blue) represents GHG emissions from floating plastics in the NPGP due to solar UV radiation. Grey bars indicate estimated reduction in respective carbon fluxes in the NPGP due to microplastic pollution, with the ranges indicating impacts over 10 (low) and 100 (high) years, respectively (Table S11).
