In recent decades, the topic of marine debris has gained recognition as a significant global ecological and economic problem. As the amount of debris in our oceans grows, the frequency of research and monitoring to understand its sources, concentrations, and impacts also increases. As the frequency of studies grow, the evidence and understanding of the negative effects of marine debris does as well (Rochman et al., 2016).

A Plastic Ocean documents the global effects of plastic pollution and highlights workable technologies and innovative solutions that everyone - from governments to individuals - can do, to create a cleaner and greener ocean.

With support from a NOAA Marine Debris Community-based Removal Grant, the Mariana Islands Nature Alliance, expanded local waste management infrastructure by installing mixed-waste and recycling bins at seven locations on the island of Saipan.

The Ocean Conservancy released on Wednesday its International Coastal Cleanup (ICC) report, a compilation of litter collected from a one-day cleanup of beaches and waterways worldwide. For the first time since the report's inception more than 30 years ago, the 10 most common items picked up by volunteers around the world were made of plastic. Foam takeaway containers booted glass beverage bottles from this year's list.

#TeamSeas will be one of the biggest, baddest, most-impactful cleanup projects of all time - and here's how we're doing it. See our cutting-edge river Interceptors, info on locally-organized cleanups, ghost-gear removal efforts and professional expeditions to areas where we can have the greatest conservation impact!