1.6 million km²
of ocean surface
About twice the size of Texas, or three times France.
80,000 tonnes
of floating plastic
As heavy as roughly 500 jumbo jets.
1.8 trillion
pieces of plastic
About 250 pieces for every person on Earth.
Put the patch over your part of the world
Drag the orange shape anywhere on the map, or pick a place. It is redrawn at true size wherever it lands, so it stretches near the poles just like the land does.
Now over: Its real home
For scale: about the size of Iran or Mongolia, 2.3 times Texas, 2.9 times France, or 6.6 times the United Kingdom.
Big, but spread very thin
The patch is huge in area but light on any one spot. Even in the densest part there is only about 0.2 grams of plastic per square metre of sea, which is why you can't see it from space or walk on it. The edge of the patch is drawn where the plastic reaches 10 kilograms per square kilometre.
How much plastic is in any one spot?
Click or tap anywhere on the map to read the estimate for that spot. Drag to move around, and use the buttons to zoom.
Selected spot
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Model estimate of floating plastic of all sizes, 2015, on a grid of cells about 20 km across.