The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is a heap of debris floating in the Pacific. Some say it's twice the size of Texas while others claim it's the size of the USA. It's made up of 80% plastics and weighs 3.5 million tons. The Algalita Marine Research Foundation in Long Island have been monitoring the Garbage Patch for ten years.
The "Patch" is particularly dangerous for birds and marine life according to environmental group Ocean Conservancy. Sea turtles mistake clear plastic bags for jellyfish. Birds swoop down and swallow indigestible shards of plastic. These animals die because the plastic eventually fills their stomachs. It doesn't pass and they literally starve to death.
The long term solution is to stop producing as much plastic products and change our consumption habits.