by The new video showed the latest cleanup loot in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.
The Ocean Cleanup, a Netherlands-based organization, released a video this week of its ship hauling more than 10,000 kilograms (22,000 lb) of plastic out of the water and dumping piles of trash on the deck.
The garbage was collected in a corner of the ocean known as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, where garbage from around the world accumulates and a plague for marine life and plastic pollution.
In the video, barrels, baskets, jugs, buckets and more come out of the net, while someone aboard the ship can be heard screaming “Whoa!”
To collect the trash, The Ocean Cleanup attaches a long net to two ships, which slowly pull it across the ocean in a U-shaped formation to trap the plastic.
The nets are also open on the bottom, the organization says, allowing the fish to swim free even if the garbage is collected.
Every week or so, the two ships come together and close the net, with one ship picking up garbage from the net, as seen in the video. In total, this system has collected more than 145,000 kg (320,000 lbs), the organization says.
This recent loot was the largest single collection to date, they add.
Plastic waste has become a global crisis, with waste filling oceans, coasts and rivers around the world.
In the ocean, this litter can end up being eaten by animals such as sea turtles and birds, and the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) estimates that more than 800 marine animal species have been injured by litter in the ocean.
This problem is particularly acute in “garbage” such as that of the eastern Pacific. At these points, ocean currents push everything from ship parts to household waste and tiny bits of trash known as “microplastics” into giant swirls of concentrated debris.
Earlier this year, representatives from 175 countries agreed to create a legally binding treaty at the United Nations to tackle plastic pollution by the end of 2024.
“High and rapidly increasing levels of plastic pollution represent a serious environmental problem on a global scale, with a negative impact on the environmental, social and economic dimensions of sustainable development,” reads the draft resolution.
Progress towards such a historic agreement is ongoing. Just this week, the non-profit organization Humane Society International reported that the countries of the International Whaling Commission – the international body that governs the whaling industry – have unanimously agreed to support negotiations on the plastics treaty.
