According to the Ocean Conservancy, single-use plastic containers like bottles and plastic bags are the biggest source of trash found near waterways and beaches. To conceptualize how much plastic waste ends up in the oceans every year (19 billion pounds of garbage), imagine 34 times the size of Manhattan covered ankle-deep in plastic waste, and that’s the magnitude of our plastic problem. Sadly, that number is on track to double unless something is done quickly and globally. Plastics are non-biodegradable and merely break down into smaller and smaller pieces when exposed to sunlight. These fragments–called microplastics–are harmful to the environment, just as plastics are. Countries, corporations, and individuals all have a role in solving this problem.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/plastic-waste-oceans_us_58fed37be4b0c46f0781d426
In 2012, photographer Zak Noyle captured the Indonesian surfer Dede Surinaya surfing in waters filled with trash off the coast of Java, Indonesia.