Plastic can take half a millennium to bio-degrade in the ocean (infographic)
The European Parliament passed a ban on single-use plastic products
Ocean Cleanup system installed & ready for work at the Great Pacific Garbage Patch
Researchers on the Ocean Cleanup Project say there are as many as 1.8 trillion pieces of plastic within the patch
Ocean Cleanup system completed and ready to be towed out to sea (video-photos)
The team estimates a fleet of its trash-collecting systems can clean 50 percent of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch every five years