Concentrated debris in the Pacific Ocean a growing problem

Go here to read about the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.

If that term is unfamiliar to you, let me clue you in. In central North Pacific Ocean, there is a huge mass of marine litter.

And by huge, I mean this thing is twice the size of Texas! This mass of trash, made up of mostly old toys, plastic bottles, bags, etc. washed off beaches, is so large, it has often been jokingly referred to as the eighth continent.

Scientists have known about this continent of trash for over a decade, but thought the possibility of cleaning it up was impossible. Now, there is Project Kaisei, which is an effort by a group of researchers to study the mass in order to determine if it is possible to clean up. The project was created by the Ocean Voyages Institute, a not-for-profit organization focused on marine preservation.