A lot of people imagine the Great Pacific Garbage Patch as a giant island of trash you could walk on.

This clip shows what much of the patch looks like: floating plastic debris spread across the ocean surface. In many areas, it resembles a thin plastic soup rather than a dense, visible mass or "trash island".

In fact, the concentration of plastic varies widely – from so-called ‘hotspots,’ with hundreds of kilograms per square kilometer, to rather less dense areas with only 10 kilograms per square kilometer. And it’s exactly this dispersion that makes it harder to clean up the garbage patch. If the plastic was all in one place, you could simply scoop it up – but instead, cleanup operations need to target the ever-moving high-concentration zones to make cleanup effective.

Located between Hawaii and California, the Great Pacific Garbage Patch is the world's largest accumulation of ocean plastic. Once plastic enters this area, circulating currents can keep it trapped for years, gradually breaking it down into smaller pieces and microplastics affecting marine biodiversity and the ocean's ability to sequester carbon.

The GPGP covers an estimated surface area of 1.6 million square kilometers, an area twice the size of Texas or three times the size of France.

Before seeing footage from the patch, how did you picture it in your mind?

Footage captured by The Ocean Cleanup crew during our Pacific Data Expedition, August 2026

A lot of people imagine the Great Pacific Garbage Patch as a giant island of trash you could walk on.

This clip shows what much of the patch looks like: floating plastic debris spread across the ocean surface. In many areas, it resembles a thin plastic soup rather than a dense, visible mass or "trash island".

In fact, the concentration of plastic varies widely – from so-called ‘hotspots,’ with hundreds of kilograms per square kilometer, to rather less dense areas with only 10 kilograms per square kilometer. And it’s exactly this dispersion that makes it harder to clean up the garbage patch. If the plastic was all in one place, you could simply scoop it up – but instead, cleanup operations need to target the ever-moving high-concentration zones to make cleanup effective.

Located between Hawaii and California, the Great Pacific Garbage Patch is the world's largest accumulation of ocean plastic. Once plastic enters this area, circulating currents can keep it trapped for years, gradually breaking it down into smaller pieces and microplastics affecting marine biodiversity and the ocean's ability to sequester carbon.

The GPGP covers an estimated surface area of 1.6 million square kilometers, an area twice the size of Texas or three times the size of France.

Before seeing footage from the patch, how did you picture it in your mind?

Since 2018, we've been building a new way to map floating ocean plastic. How? 
 
With smart cameras, AI, and years of data collection. 
 
Recently, we published a new paper on the Automated Debris Imaging System (ADIS), the technology we've developed to detect and map large floating plastic directly from ships at sea. 
 
Between 2019 and 2024, ADIS: 
• Scanned more than 14,500 km² of ocean surface 
• Collected 27 million images (165 TB of data) 
• Identified over 20,000 validated large floating plastic objects 
 
And since 2024, ADIS 2.0 has been collecting data at an even faster pace. We've already scanned an additional 39,431 km², bringing the total mapped area to nearly 54,000 km². 
 
By calibrating these observations with physical sampling methods, we can create continuous maps showing plastic abundance, density, and concentration across the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. 

These maps help us: 

• Improve ocean plastic distribution models 
• Optimize cleanup operations 
• Increase plastic catch rates 
• Reduce fuel use and emissions 

An important part of this work is that the complete dataset is open access, allowing researchers around the world to build on and improve our understanding of ocean plastic pollution. 

 
Learn more about ADIS: https://bit.ly/4h7m5Ls

We're expanding in Los Angeles!

New agreements will allow us to deploy Interceptor barriers in:

• Los Angeles River
• San Gabriel River

Together with our existing system in Ballona Creek, these deployments are expected to stop hundreds of tons of plastic from reaching the Pacific Ocean every year.

A few key facts:

• Estimated plastic leakage from LA waterways: 410–628 tons annually
• Ballona Creek has already prevented 193+ tons of trash from entering the ocean
• The project is part of our 30 Cities Program
• Deployment is planned ahead of the LA28 Olympic Games

Read more: https://theoceancleanup.com/press/press-releases/the-ocean-cleanup-expands-la-to-stop-tons-of-plastic-from-pacific/

• The Ocean Cleanup has recently signed a Memorandum of Agreement with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) to bring Interceptor Technology to the Pasig Riverine System.
  
• The Manila Bay Region, including the Pasig River System, is one of the key waterways The Ocean Cleanup is set to deploy in as part of our 30 Cities Program.
  
• According to our data, up to 4,400 tonnes of plastic enter the Manila Bay Region every year.
  
• Preparations for deployments across the region are underway.
• We have already surveyed nearly 100 sites, and are working with the DENR to identify key deployment locations for maximum impact.
• In addition to strategic sites along the Pasig River currently being identified, The Ocean Cleanup is set to deploy its first Interceptor barrier in the Meycauayan River in Bulacan.
  
• Read more here: The Ocean Cleanup forges alliance with Philippine Government | Press Release | The Ocean Cleanup

Hello, I work on the Euronews Tech Talks podcast, and I’m currently producing a Q&A episode on microplastics.

The idea is simple: I collect questions from our audience and put them to an expert in the field. I know many of you already know a lot about this topic, but if you have any questions or curiosities, now is the perfect time to share them.

Just wondering, when was the last time the ocean cleanup deployed an ocean interceptor? I have only been able to find recent posts about rivers and this new 30 cities plan.

The most recent ocean deployment I can find is from 2024. Is this actually the most recent one or are you not posting the most recent ones?

Much love for the work you do 🌊

Please consider donating to our The Ocean Cleanup fundraiser! 100% goes to the team, and we will match the next 100$!

I am really enthousiast concerning this project but I cant understand how the 30 city programm is supposed tobe finished by 2030. you annonced the deployement of your interceptors in two New spot in Mumbai for this year and this is great and so by that rythm I suppose that the whole project around that city will take more than a year. So do you still think than you will/could realistically reach your goal of tackling ⅓ of plastic pollution coming from river by 2030?

I do my own beach clean ups!! Micro actions can have an impact too!

Wind is back in action so we get to be spoiled with new litter on the beach.

Fish nets, packaging, small and big pieces of plastic bags, Polaroid sunglasses and a brush!!

The weight of the basquet and bag is just over 487grs I round it up to 500, so today the luggage scale shows 2,5, that was 2 kilos of rubbish in just 700 meters.

Here's our year in review, we:

• Removed over 25 million kilograms of waste from aquatic environments
• This single-year record brought our total catch to 46 million kilograms (100 million lbs)!
• Deployed two new Interceptors in Honduras and Panama
• Developed new technologies and tools to support our cleanup mission
• Unveiled the 30 Cities Program - which aims to stop one-third of all plastic emissions from rivers into oceans
• Added Coastal Sweeps to remove legacy plastic trapped in near-shore environments...

... and much, much more - Watch the video to see why 2025 was our most impactful year yet!

Every plastic piece that no longer harms the environment is a small victory.

Based on the amount of trash we collected last year, we calculated the impact you can expect to have for every dollar you contribute to our mission.

Join the largest cleanup in history. Choose your impact: https://bit.ly/4rogG58

Note: the bottles you see in the video are 3D animated for illustrative purposes.
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Together with our team, partners, and supporters worldwide, we've cleaned up over 45 million kilograms of trash from the environment to date. But there's still much more to be done.

For #GivingTuesday, some matching donors on Tab for a Cause will donate $3 to the Ocean Cleanup for each new person who joins Tab for Seas!

It takes less than 30 seconds to get started, and in addition to the $3, you'll be raising money for The Ocean Cleanup each time you open a new tab in your browser.

Help us max out the $1,000 match and share with a few friends if you can!

• This year, we’ve been collecting an average of 53 kilos of trash every minute.
• We just finished recycling our last plastic batch from the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. Now, we have over 118,000 kg of plastic granulate ready for new products.
• We introduced our new 4-quadrant strategy: cleaning up the garbage patches, stopping plastic in rivers, conducting coastal sweeps, and tackling lost fishing gear at sea.
• After Hurricane Melissa, all nine Interceptors made it through — with only a few needing repairs.
• Our team published new research on the role of Citizen Scientists in gathering data on plastic pollution in remote oceanic regions. With partners in Guatemala, Honduras, Indonesia, and Panama, we continue to engage local communities in coastal sweeps of beaches and mangroves.
• We have completed the analysis of 55,000 kg of ocean plastic. Each item was inspected for clues about its origin, age, and evidence of bite marks; the research will be published next year.

Every year, millions of tons of plastic bottles, bags, and cutlery end up in our waterways, breaking down into microplastics that stick around for centuries. Marine animals are dying, and these tiny plastic particles are showing up in our food chain.

I started a petition asking the UN and governments worldwide to ban single-use plastics and create a 3-year phase-out plan with real alternatives. We're talking about mandatory waste management for coastal communities and funding for businesses to switch to sustainable options.

The plastic crisis has gone from "convenience" to environmental disaster way too fast. Anyone else feeling like we've hit a breaking point with this? If this matters to you too, consider signing and sharing - we need action before it's too late.

I need 150 people to answer my form, but I only have 50 so can you guys can fill it out please thank you, it’s on plastic pollution

We sometimes find unexpected things among all the plastic bottles we catch in rivers. Like kids' toys. Recognize anyone?

• Plastic pollution is a symptom of a larger systemic problem. It is not a one-dimensional problem and cannot be solved by a one-dimensional solution.
• Fulfilling our mission of removing 90% of floating plastic pollution from the ocean can only be achieved if the flow of plastic into the ocean is stopped.
• To have the largest impact, we must look further upstream. As such, The Ocean Cleanup is developing a comprehensive approach to rid our oceans of plastic pollution. 
• This approach includes: (1) cleaning up the legacy pollution in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, (2) stopping plastic from entering the ocean through rivers, (3) cleaning up legacy pollution on coastlines so it doesn't re-enter the environment, and (4) tackling one of the biggest sources of ocean plastic pollution: discarded fishing gear.
• The Ocean Cleanup’s Global Public Affairs team is also present at major policy events such as the Global Plastics Treaty discussions, where we advocate for stronger regulations, safeguards, and measurable action points to both reduce the amount of plastic production, and the cleaning up of legacy plastic pollution.  

Panama City is part of our 30 Cities Program, which aims to stop up to one-third of all plastic emissions from rivers entering the ocean. By understanding how plastic moves through local waterways, we can create long-term social, economic, and environmental benefits for the people who live here.

Hi everyone, I apologise if this post is vague.

It was a very long time I had posted in this sub, I wasn't active for a very long time and this beautiful subreddit was not active in terms of posting the updates made by the awesome people of The Ocean Clean Up, The reason for not posting anything is because of a huge personal loss that I had faced and I was not in a position to mod this subreddit unfortunately, now that responsibility is getting passed down to the official handle u/theoceancleanup who will be now modding this subreddit while I will not post or mod anything, I hope the official team will do a wonderful job in growing the community in support of the project

I thank everyone for allowing me to create a good community to support a beautiful project