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Oceans Awash in Plastic Waste
An estimated 11 million metric tons of plastic enter oceans each year, according to the U.S. State Department—and some of it accumulates in highly visible ways. Şebnem Coşkun / Anadolu / Getty Turkish free diver Şahika Ercümen dives amid plastic waste on the Ortaköy coastline to raise awareness of plastic pollution in the oceans, and to observe the conditions in the Bosphorus Strait in Istanbul, Turkey, on June 27, 2020. Nhac Nguyen / AFP / Getty A Vietnamese woman gathers shells in a coastal forest littered with plastic waste that stuck in branches after it was washed up by the rising tide, in Thanh Hoa province, about 150 kilometers south of Hanoi, Vietnam, on May 18, 2018. Nina Gomes recovers a discarded plastic bag from ocean waters near the Copacabana beach in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on March 19, 2024. Bags of plastic waste and garbage recovered from the Great Pacific Garbage Patch are unloaded at the Port of Victoria in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, on July 23, 2024. The Ocean Cleanup is a nonprofit organization founded in 2013 that develops and deploys technologies to rid the world's oceans of plastic. A plastic ball floats in the Strait of Gibraltar, about 6.8 miles (11 kilometers) away from the nearest shore, near Barbate, Spain, on July 31, 2018. Bhushan Koyande / Hindustan Times / Getty Children walk through tons of plastic waste on a shallow shoreline near Badhwar Park in Mumbai, India, on June 4, 2025. Raşid Necati Aslim / Anadolu / Getty A giant 11-meter-long whale sculpture called Whale on the Wharf , made of recycled plastic waste, is placed in London's Canary Wharf area on April 15, 2025, to draw attention to plastic pollution in the oceans. In this photo taken on October 22, 2019, plastic and other debris sit on a beach on Midway Atoll in the northwestern Hawaiian Islands. According to a study released in 2020, more than a million tons a year of America's plastic trash isn't ending up where it should. The equivalent of as many as 1,300 plastic grocery bags per person is landing in places such as oceans and roadways. In this photo from October 22, 2019, small pieces of plastic waste are shown in the decomposed carcass of a seabird on a beach on Midway Atoll. In one of the most remote places on Earth, Midway Atoll is a wildlife sanctuary that should be a safe haven for seabirds and other marine animals. Instead, creatures here struggle to survive as their bellies fill with plastic from faraway places. Josep Lago / AFP via Getty This photo taken on January 12, 2024, shows plastic nurdles at La Pineda beach in Tarragona, Spain. Cem Ozdel / Anadolu / Getty Modou Fall, a Senegalese environmental activist also known as 'Plastic Man,' is raising awareness about environmental pollution with his costume made of hundreds of plastic bags. He's shown here in Dakar, Senegal, on March 27, 2025. The 55-year-old Plastic Man organizes discussions and various events to educate the public about environmental pollution and climate change. Wearing his plastic outfit and carrying a note on his chest reading Africa is not a trash can , he walks the streets and beaches of Dakar to highlight the impact of plastic use on the environment. Olivier Morin / AFP / Getty This photo shows several dead herring trapped in a plastic packaging net on May 3, 2023, near Pietarsaari, Finland, as the late spring's sea ice was melting slowly. Benson Ibeabuchi / AFP / Getty A view of a canal that empties into Lagos Lagoon, clogged with rigid foam and single-use plastic, at Obalende in Lagos, Nigeria, on January 23, 2024. Agung Parameswara / Getty Small pieces of plastic that washed ashore on Kedonganan Beach and were collected in Kedonganan, Bali, Indonesia, shown on February 2, 2021. In Bali, known for its beaches and sunsets, the northwest monsoon brings vast amounts of plastic waste to its world-famous shores. Volunteers from a nongovernmental organization hold hands after cleaning the São Conrado beach in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on June 8, 2023, as part of World Oceans Day. Tahsin Ceylan / Anadolu / Getty Divers from the Turkish Underwater Sports Federation and Kas Underwater Association team carry out underwater cleaning operations off the coast of Antalya's Kas district on May 4, 2025. During the sea-cleaning operation, a large variety of items such as cellphones, plastic chairs, plates, forks, hats, glass, and plastic bottles were removed. Mladen Antonov / AFP / Getty A wave carrying plastic waste and other rubbish washes up on a beach in Koh Samui in the Gulf of Thailand on January 19, 2021. Li Xinjun / Xinhua / Getty Primary-school students clean up garbage at Binhai Park in Rongcheng City, in east China's Shandong Province, on June 4, 2025.
