Known as the great Pacific garbage patch, researchers have now reported the rotating soup of plastic in the pacific ocean has grown to 16 times its’ previous size.
Scientists estimated the patch is made up of 1.8 trillion pieces of plastic, covering 1.6 million square kilometers in area - approximately the same size as Mongolia.
Lead researcher Laurent Lebreton said the garbage patch was growing exponentially, with about 30 percent of identifiable objects likely coming from Japan.