5 Gyres - Understanding Plastic Pollution Through Exploration, Education, and Action

  This is from the cover of today's LA Times, a report on a once idyllic stretch of white sand beaches along the southern Yucatan Peninsula that has now become an eyesore of plastic garbage - from bottles to shampoo containers to untold millions of fragments.

We've certainly seen this in other areas one might call paradise were it not for the unwelcome plastic waste - Hawaii, Bermuda, the Azores, Mauritius, Easter Island, and we've been hearing horrific reports on Bali, a place we're planning to target for a "hot spot cleanup" in 2013.

As long as we use a material that has no value at the end of its life cycle - no redemption value - we will continue to see this on beaches and islands far from development. And no amount of education will prevent 7 billion people from accidentally or intentionally littering, especially in places where economic survival is a more pressing issue.

The solutions here must come in the form of better policies for dealing with waste, like Extended Producer Responsibility - requiring producers to deal with waste from their products instead of placing the burden on everyday people. Or smarter design - designing products to be recycled, and by this we mean truly recycled. Not partially downcycled, or simply exported overseas. Or better redemption programs - like bottle bills that encourage people to cash in on waste, and result in huge increases in recycling rates.

This is where we're going to be focusing more of our efforts with 5 Gyres - promoting real solutions to plastic pollution. We've seen enough to know that this problem can't be solved at sea, and that reusable bags alone aren't enough. We need your help here! Become a member, join our efforts, and learn how you can be a part of the solution.