Ocean Cleanup 101: Everything You Need to Know

Quick Key Facts

1. Eight million tons of plastic reaches our oceans annually. The top plastic marine debris items are cigarette butts, food wrappers, beverage bottles and lids. 
2. Ocean currents pull plastic into convergence zones called “gyres” that form patches of waste at their centers. The largest is the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, which is twice the size of Texas. 
3. Plastic is a major threat to aquatic life, killing 100 million marine animals per year. 
4. Plastic waste degrades quickly in the ocean — especially along shorelines — and sheds microplastics into marine environments. 
5. Rivers act like arteries, conveying huge amounts of waste to oceans. Just 1,000 rivers are responsible for 80% of all ocean plastic. 
6. Various technologies are being employed to clean up ocean plastic: Seabin vacuums in litter and microplastics; Wasser 3.0 swirls hybrid silica gels in a vortex…