Why Do So Many Plastic Bottles Wash Up On Inaccessible Island? It’s Ships, Scientists Say

By Leslie Nemo
Oct 1, 2019 3:14 PMNov 19, 2019 12:10 AM
Plastic trash on the shore
Shipping traffic accounts for a larger percentage of plastic trash in some parts of the oceans than scientists realized. (Credit: Stephane Bidouze)

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Rafts of garbage, assembled by currents that swirl trash together, clog our oceans. But how did that material wind up adrift in the first place? A new study takes a look at the refuse that washes up on a remote island in the South Atlantic and arrives at a perhaps-unexpected answer: The trash is being dumped from ships.

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