The report audited 484 clean-ups in over 50 countries and six continents in September to identify the biggest polluting companies. The results are - Coca-Cola is the biggest global plastic polluter for the second year in a row.
Boyan Slat, the creator of the Ocean Cleanup project, tweeted that the 600 metre-long (2,000ft) free-floating boom had captured and retained debris from what is known as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.
The island of Tristan da Cunha is halfway between Argentina and South Africa. Recent study shows that it is hugely polluted by plastic that comes from international shipping.
"Our so-called civilization is using the ocean as its toilet. Unless this changes, and fast, ocean ecosystems are going to continue their rapid collapse", says Cameron.
the ocean sediment tells a clear story of the world’s growing reliance on plastic. Between 1945 and 2009, the rate of plastic deposition doubled every 15 years on average.
Last month Philippines ordered Canada to take back 69 shipping containers filled with Canadian trash. And now Malaysia has announced that it will be shipping out 450 metric tonnes of plastic trash to its countries of origins.
On the Cocos (Keeling) Islands, researchers have determined over 414-million pieces of plastic have washed up on shore. In the Mediterranean, off the coast of Corsica Island, the island of floating plastic and garbage is several dozen km long.
Global plastic pollution and the damage it causes to marine ecosystems now has a price tag attached to it. UK and Norway researchers now came up with a staggering figure – $2.5 billion – as the annual cost to society.
“Nurdles” may sound cute but they pose a huge risk to the marine environment. Also known as “mermaid tears”, these small plastic pellets are a feedstock in the plastic industry.
TWasteShark, an electric vehicle that traverses waterways, can autonomously gather up to 132 pounds of plastic waste at a time. If it’s deployed five days a week, it can remove 15.6 tons of plastic waste from a body of water per year.
SodaStream announced the launch of a plastic-cleaning contraption dubbed the "Holy Turtle" into the ocean today. It is the first such cleanup initiative undertaken by a commercial company.
Lecomte, who’s attempting to become the first man to swim across the Pacific in an effort to highlight ocean health and conservation, is now a distance of 1,000 nautical miles from his starting point.
Seabins are being installed at harbors and marinas across the planet with the simple task of cleaning up garbage and possibly oil floating in the water.
Indonesia wastes upward of 10 billion plastic bags every year, making it the second highest polluter of plastic in the world. Thousands of volunteers gathered around the country in one of the largest plastic cleanups to date.
The Ocean Cleanup project is set to launch its first full-scale system early next month with the goal of reducing the Great Pacific Garbage Patch by half in five years.
