The GPGP is a layer of rubbish in the Pacific Ocean which has been growing since the 1950s. It is the result of whirling currents, pulling trash from the world's oceans and floating between California and Hawaii. It is the world's largest landfill.

According to estimates by the California Coast Gaurd, this enormous floating landfill has pulled 3.5 million tons of trash and spans 3.43 million km2, or the size of Europe. In total, more than 267 marine species will be affected by this enormous heap of waste.

Sailors accounts regularly confirm the existence of similar small floating islands, hundreds of meters squared of trash, in the Gulf of Gascogne. For the last ten years, IFREMER (French Insitute on the Exploitation of the Sea) has been studying these and uncovering unsettling findings. More than 50 million tons of trash have been found between the surface and 200m down in the Gulf of Gascogne; 15,000 tons of plastic bags circulate there at mid depth; and 50,000 tons of the same plastic sacs rest on the ocean floor at the bottom of the Gulf.

Among the multitude of plastic trash that we find along the coastline, there are theses little plastic sticks from cotton swabs. They illustrate how macro-waste can travel all over to end up on our beaches and in our oceans. 

These cotton swabs began their journey by being thrown away in toilets. They are then carried by the sewage network to end up in a sewage treatment plant. Given their small size, they pass through the grills meant to catch macro-waste and are then carried to the coast in a rush of water from the sewage treatment facility. Currents and tides finish the job by deposing the plastic waste on our beaches and carrying them out to sea.

This journey illustrates the harmful consequences of a seemingly simple act: Litter in the city or throw something in a river- anything outside a trashcan- might as well have been littered directly on the beach or in the sea.

Mermaid’s tears

Hidden beneath a poetic name, "mermaid's tears," are a micro-plastic pollutant to our ocean's and coastlines.

These tiny plastic marbles are generally about 5mm in diameter and used for the fabrication of plastic goods. 27 million tons are made each year in the United States alone. The other type of mermaid's tears are composed of various plastic trash that has been eroded and fragmented by oceans and rivers.

These granules make up a majority of marine waste. They escape the production cycle of products to be found later in oceans and rivers. Studies show that today, mermaid's tears have become a part of the composition of beachs' sediment and can be found in the digestive systems of sea life.  They are also the carriers of numerous toxic chemicals.

Mermaid's tears are certainly not biodegradeble and have an unsettling lifetime; they are also nearly impossible to clean up thanks to their small size. Dr. Richard Thompson of Plymouth University has undertaken reseach on the decomposition of plastic in sea water and the exact effects of plastic on the marine environment.  According to him, the primary concern is that plastic's toxic chemicals have entered the food chain harming both sea life and humans.

The cigarette butt is a concrete and visible example of the chronic pollution that  touches our seas and coastlines. Many people find it more convenient to bury their cigarette butt in the sand rather than throw it away in a trashcan or in a pocket ashtray. When you think about the crowded beaches in summer, you can imagine the unsettling amount of cigarette butts left in the sand and making their way into the sea.
However, we cannot think that smokers on the beach are the only ones responsible for this form of pollution. A cigarette butt thrown on the ground in the has a high chance of ending up on the beach or in the ocean. How? It's simple: after a rain or a city's street cleaning, cigarette butts end up in the network of sewers or water reserves, flowing eventually into the ocean.

This phenomenon has been accentuated by the outlawing of smoking in public places accross Europe. Smokers find themselves on the terrasses of restaurants and cafes, throwing their butts on sidewalks and in the gutters to join other litter (chewing gum, plastic cups, etc.).

According to estimations by Ocean Conservancy, the nicotine count captured by  200 filters is sufficient to kill a human. One butt alone has the capacity to pollute 500 liters of water, rendering it unsafe to consume. And don't forget that animals often eat them!

As far as proucts that accompany the consumption of tabacco- lighters, matches, and cigarette boxes - they are the same. A cigarette box is before all a packaging of plastic film, aluminium, carton, cellophane, tabacco, as well as thousands of other chemical composites.

This 15 year old sea turtle was found imprisoned in a plastic band when she was young. Her shell and her entire body have continued to grow depite the damage.