How Much Trash Is In Our Oceans?

In 2014, there was more than 593 million pounds, or 5.25 trillion pieces of plastic floating on the ocean’s surface. And experts say there's more beneath.

By Sean Mowbray
Oct 24, 2022 8:30 PMOct 25, 2022 1:19 PM
Ocean pollution
(Credit: solarseven/Shutterstock)

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The typical American creates around 4.9 pounds of trash each day, on average. It can be found nearly everywhere in our daily lives.

Unfortunately, our disposable waste is now also a ubiquitous feature of many marine environments — and scientists across the globe have the unenviable task of puzzling out just how much has wound up in the oceans. The answer? Well, it’s complicated.  

“This is a difficult question,” says Laurent Lebreton, head of research at The Ocean Cleanup, an organization that works to find solutions to ocean pollution. “Scientists have mapped the mass of plastics at the ocean surface with global estimates reaching several thousand tons of floating plastics.”

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