Getting the full Story

A local artist, fascinated by idea that all the plastic in the ocean lands up in one specific island, took to the seas to discover if there was any truth to the apocryphal tale.

Simon Max Bannister boarded a research boat bound for Uruguay to see if he could find the mythical “Plastic Island”.

He and a team from the 5 Gyres Institute, a non-profit organisation dedicated to understanding plastic pollution through exploration, education, and action, found not an island but what they described as more a “bowl of soup” or “ocean confetti” – bits of plastic scattered throughout the ocean.

The institute’s scientists have researched most of the five gyres (ocean currents), finding pieces of plastic of varying sizes.

The voyage on the boat the Sea Dragon was an expedition to the South Atlantic subtropical gyre to study plastic pollution.

He will be giving a talk on his journey and insights at the Cape Storm Offices in Wynberg, CT on the 5th of May 2011. See invite above for details.

Read more at: http://www.iol.co.za/scitech/science/environment/plastic-soup-shows-scale-of-pollution-1.1035126