Garbage island

An idea for the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. I'd think bigger, really big. Even though the Pacific is something like 20,000 feet deep where the plastic is, I think the nations of the world should commit to creating an enormous artificial island there. This would take decades if not centuries, but let's think long-term. A properly-shaped course-sand island, more like a wide reef curving to catch the ocean current, would naturally filter the ocean water, catching the tiny plastic pieces.

Besides the big advantage of catching the plastic, this island could also serve a function like a reef does, providing a spawning ground etc and alleviating the "ocean desert" aspect of so much of the Pacific. And, it's always nice to have more tropical islands, especially long curvy ones that are almost entirely beachfront. I'm not sure how wide such an island would have to be to support a variety of plant and animal life, but it's probably narrower than you'd expect.

Of course it's also possible such a formation would alter the ocean's currents and, I don't know, kill all the whales or something. But I think we're gonna kill most of them off anyway. Let's take a risk.

This would be extremely difficult and time-consuming to build. There are a couple of options. Ships could pass by and dump dirt or rocks or sand for the foundation, just everyone dropping at the same GPS location until the water was shallow enough to start construction of the filtering island. Or, you could bring up sand from, say, a few miles away on the ocean floor, where it's already super deep and getting deeper wouldn't really change things.

A related idea: create a smaller (a few square miles? a scientist would know how big was necessary), round artificial island in the shape of a bowl. Pump water into the bowl, and let the sand filter it.

So, there you go, UN. Get started.

Of course, none of this matters when the earth stops spinning.