The Great Pacific Garbage Patch (GPGP) contains at least 80,000 tonnes of plastic floating inside an area of 1.6m square kilometres

Plastic concentration, kg/km2

100

10

1

0.1

0.01

Pacific Ocean

Outer GPGP

US

San

Francisco

GPGP

400 km

Hawaii

400 miles

Plastic

concentration

kg/km2

Pacific Ocean

Outer GPGP

US

100

10

San Francisco

1

GPGP

0.1

Los Angeles

0.01

Mexico

400 km

Hawaii

400 miles

Image: Scientific Reports, Lebreton et al