Table 1 Composition of hard plastics > 5 cm collected from the North Pacific Garbage Patch in 2019 and regrouped into plastic item categories.
Material | (#) | (kg) | % (#) | % (kg) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Aquaculture gear | 781 | 4.38 | 12.9 | 0.8 |
Oyster nets, bags, spacers (28) | 779 | 4.36 | 99.7 | 99.5 |
Oyster trays (29) | 2 | 0.02 | 0.3 | 0.5 |
Fishing gear (excluding nets and ropes category) | 781 | 37.89 | 12.9 | 7.4 |
Crab/lobster pots (26) | 37 | 0.33 | 4.7 | 0.9 |
Lobster and fish tags (114) | 1 | 0.00 | 0.1 | 0.0 |
Fish boxes (34) | 430 | 30.54 | 55.1 | 80.6 |
Light sticks (36) | 3 | 0.05 | 0.4 | 0.1 |
Eel traps (48L) | 310 | 6.97 | 39.6 | 18.4 |
Floats/buoys (37) | 173 | 108.80 | 2.9 | 21.2 |
Crates (13) | 208 | 56.81 | 3.4 | 11.1 |
Buckets (38) | 183 | 21.93 | 3.0 | 4.3 |
Food/drinks | 760 | 5.88 | 12.6 | 1.1 |
Drinks (bottles, containers, and drums) (4) | 9 | 0.20 | 1.2 | 3.4 |
Food containers incl. fast food containers (6) | 24 | 2.08 | 3.2 | 35.3 |
Caps/lids (15) | 726 | 3.60 | 95.5 | 61.3 |
Crisp/sweet packets and lolly sticks (19) | 1 | 0.00 | 0.1 | 0.0 |
Household items | 826 | 80.85 | 13.7 | 15.7 |
Plastic bag ends (112) | 2 | 0.02 | 0.2 | 0.0 |
Cleaner (bottles, containers, and drums) (5) | 45 | 2.04 | 5.4 | 2.5 |
Cosmetics (e.g., sun lotion, shampoo, shower gel) (7) | 21 | 0.86 | 2.5 | 1.1 |
Engine oil containers and drums (8) | 34 | 1.63 | 4.1 | 2.0 |
Jerry cans (10) | 63 | 18.14 | 7.6 | 22.4 |
Injection gun containers (11) | 8 | 0.44 | 1.0 | 0.5 |
Other bottles, containers, and drums (12) | 302 | 29.52 | 36.6 | 36.5 |
Car parts (14) | 10 | 1.17 | 1.2 | 1.4 |
Cigarette lighters (16) | 2 | 0.02 | 0.2 | 0.0 |
Pens (17) | 21 | 0.07 | 2.5 | 0.1 |
Combs/hairbrushes (18) | 7 | 0.03 | 0.8 | 0.0 |
Toys & party poppers (20) | 44 | 1.18 | 5.3 | 1.5 |
Cutlery/trays/straws (22) | 7 | 0.09 | 0.8 | 0.1 |
Hard hats (42) | 2 | 0.16 | 0.2 | 0.2 |
Shotgun cartridges (43) | 5 | 0.02 | 0.6 | 0.0 |
Shoes/sandals (44) | 1 | 0.08 | 0.1 | 0.1 |
Sanitary waste (98, 101–102) | 65 | 0.34 | 7.9 | 0.4 |
Medical waste (104–105) | 3 | 0.01 | 0.4 | 0.0 |
Pipes/tubes (48B) | 62 | 4.50 | 7.5 | 5.6 |
Electrical wire (48H) | 62 | 0.10 | 7.5 | 0.1 |
Plastic cleaning brush (48I) | 5 | 0.23 | 0.6 | 0.3 |
Baskets (48K) | 55 | 20.21 | 6.7 | 25.0 |
Other | 319 | 52.26 | 5.3 | 10.2 |
Conveyor belt items vessel (48D) | 13 | 0.26 | 4.1 | 0.5 |
Detonation chord (48G) | 3 | 0.00 | 0.9 | 0.0 |
Melted/burned (48J) | 182 | 7.39 | 57.1 | 14.1 |
Other plastic items (48M) | 121 | 44.61 | 37.9 | 85.4 |
Fragments | 2017 | 145.12 | 33.3 | 28.2 |
Unidentifiable fragments (5–50 cm) (117F) | 1964 | 40.71 | 97.4 | 28.1 |
Unidentifiable fragments (> 50 cm) (117G) | 35 | 104.33 | 1.7 | 71.9 |
Styrofoam small (< 5 cm) (48E) | 10 | 0.00 | 0.5 | 0.0 |
Styrofoam large (> 5 cm) (48F) | 8 | 0.07 | 0.4 | 0.1 |
Total | 6048 | 513.91 | 100.0 | 100.0 |
