Watch this video of an expedition to the giant garbage patch in the Pacific, by VBS TV. It is continued as Part 2 and Part 3.
This is a MUST-watch! And you do need to watch them all, and in sequence. It takes 1.5 to 2 hours.
See also the pages of the NOAA Marine Debris Program and this Mercury News page about expeditions to the patch.
I have posted about the “Garbage Island” in the Pacific before and wondered if it might give the development and use of bioplastics a big boost.
Study tracks ocean plastic spread:
US researchers have measured the amount of plastic accumulating in a region of the Atlantic Ocean over a 22-year period.
http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/capt_charles_moore_on_the_seas_of_plastic.html