Plastic pollution to product: ocean clean-up a perfect cycle

Ocean Cleanup oceanographer Laurent Lebreton speaks with Kathryn Ryan about the results of their first mission. Floating barriers creating an artificial coastline have been shoring-up plastic rubbish from the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. This polluting plastic is being re-purposed to make products, the proceeds of which could help fund the next ocean clean-up mission. After three years of research including two field expeditions, extensive laboratory experiments, and data analyses, Ocean Cleanup researchers have published their methodology and a revised estimate of the total amount of plastic waste currently floating at the surface of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.