Ocean cleanup crews have fished out the most trash ever taken from one of the largest garbage patches in the world.
The Ocean Cleanup, a nonprofit environmental engineering organization, saw its largest extraction earlier this month by removing about 25,000 pounds of trash from the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, Alex Tobin, head of public relations and media for the organization, told ABC News.
The Great Pacific Garbage Patch, an enormous pile of floating trash carried by ocean currents and winds to the Pacific Ocean between Hawaii and California, is the largest of the world's five ocean garbage patches.
It is difficult to determine an exact size, as the trash is constantly moving, according to NOAA.
The Ocean Cleanup has estimated the Great Pacific Garbage Patch to have grown to twice the size of the state of Texas, Tobin said.
By the end of the month, The Ocean Cleanup will launch System 03, a larger version of its current system of floating barriers.
During the week-long journey from the Great Pacific Garbage Patch back to port, the trash gets sorted on the ship, and the nonprofit recycles as much material as possible. »
