In the summer of 2019, French swimmer and anti-plastic campaigner Ben Lecomte swam through the giant floating rubbish mass known as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.
The exact size of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch is impossible to determine, but estimates put it anywhere from 700,000 to 15,000,000 km² (or the size of Texas to the size of Russia). The patch is caused by the North Pacific gyre—a circle of currents that keep plastic, waste and other pollution trapped. According to scientists, the Patch has been growing “exponentially” in recent years.
Lecomte and his support team sampled the water they swam through every day of the journey, gauging the level of plastic and microplastic pollution. As the expedition’s first mate, Tyral Dalitz, said, “The ocean is now filled with microplastics. Rather than calling it an island of trash, it is more like plastic smog throughout the ocean.”
From HuffPost: "Plastic is estimated to take up to 450 years to biodegrade. Meanwhile, small plastic particles sometimes referred to as “nurdles,” act as toxic sponges, soaking up oil, gas, chemical and other poisons. Once in the food chain, the toxins bio-accumulate, resulting in even higher concentrations inside fish.'" The Great Pacific Garbage Patch was first noted in 1988. There are other similar areas in both the North and South Atlantic Ocean, the North Pacific Ocean, and the Indian Ocean. "Garbage patch" is a misleading term—"plastic smog" or "plastic soup" are more accurate descriptions. Research into potential clean-up methods is ongoing, with no definitive plan yet.