When you consider all the ills facing our oceans, including rapid acidification, the bleaching of corals, and the accelerated die-off of some species, the one most puzzling is simple trash. Every year, humanity produces about 300 million tons of plastic. A chunk of it filters through the production and consumption life cycle and then, by virtue of storm drains and sewer pipes, ends up in the ocean. A year or two later, Earth’s circling currents bring that trash to one of five main gyres, where it swirls until its either broken down by sunlight and wave friction or, far more common, eaten by fish.

Cleaning up the junk has always been