The Great
Pacific
Garbage
Patch

where plasticneverdisappears

The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is only the most well-known of several massive accumulations of floating plastic waste in the world's oceans. These garbage patches form where ocean currents converge, trapping debris in rotating spirals. Over time, they continue to grow, concentrating microplastics, harming marine life, disrupting ecosystems, and acting as long-term reservoirs of plastic that gradually breaks down into ever smaller particles rather than disappearing.

Click the numbered markers for details on the major ocean garbage patches.

0%

The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is a collection of marine debris in the North Pacific Ocean. 80% of the plastics in the Garbage Patch come from the land (3)

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The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is defined as the area with more than 10 kg of plastic per km2 (2)

A rapid rise in ocean plastic

Over a 7-year period (2015–2022), the density of plastic fragments in parts of the patch rose from 2.9 kg/km² to 14.2 kg/km².

Inside the plastic patch

46%

Lost and abandoned fishing nets“Ghost nets” account for about 46% of the total mass in the patch. (5)

8%

Microplastics (<5 mm)Make up only 8% of the patch’s mass — but they represent 94% of all the pieces (by count) (5)

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The weight of the Garbage Patch

(approximate total mass in metric tons)

Plastic degradation time (7)

(approximate, in years)

0
250
500
750
1000
Plastic Bags (LDPE)
10 - 1000
Plastic Bottles (PET, HDPE)
450
Plastic Cups (PS, PP)
50-400
Disposable Diapers
500
Fishing Line (Nylon)
600
Foamed Plastic/Styrofoam (PS)*
500+

*often considered virtually non-biodegradable and persisting indefinitely

What we use today drifts far into the future

Every piece of plastic ever made is still somewhere on the planet. The Great Pacific Garbage Patch didn't appear overnight — and neither will solutions. But every reduction in plastic use today means one less object drifting for centuries.

Sea turtle near plastic debris underwater

Ocean plastic is a global problem, but part of its solution starts locally.

Choosing fewer single-use plastics, supporting cleanup innovations, and insisting on better waste systems reduces the flow and helps keep another patch from forming. Everyone can help.

PRODUCED BY GRAPHONAUT · 2026

INFOGRAPHIC CONCEPT & DESIGN: Boris Benko

ILLUSTRATIONS / GRAPHIC ELEMENTS / DATA VISUALIZATIONS: Boris Benko, Josip Dujmović

COPYWRITING & RESEARCH: Goran Koprenica

ANIMATIONS: Vedran Jevtović

CONTENT DIRECTOR: Colin Eldridge

COPY EDITOR / PROOFREADER: Jacob Roundy

FRONT-END DEVELOPER: Amy Evans

SOURCES: