Infographic: can we clean plastic out of the ocean?

I’ve posted two infographics from Surfrider Foundation Europe, one on recycling and one on bioplastics – two apparent solutions to plastic pollution that aren’t all they seem. This third one addresses the projects that hope to extract plastic from the oceans, which is also only partly useful.

All three of these ideas are useful and should be done. They’re not being highlighted in order to dismiss them. The point is that they are not enough. Recycling, biplastics and ocean cleanups are insufficient, even together, to tackle the vast inflow of new plastic. The only thing that can curb long term pollution is to stop making so much of it in the first place.