Oceanic pollution is a global problem with millions of tons of waste ending up in oceans annually, making them the world's largest "landfill". This creates environmental, economic, health, and aesthetic problems.

Key contributors to marine pollution include the fishing industry, shipping, offshore mining and extraction, illegal dumping, and discarded fishing gear.

Example: In the North Sea, 50% of the litter comes from ships, causing economic damage like losses for coastal communities, tourism, shipping, and fishing.

Solutions to oceanic pollution involve recycling, producing less-wasteful products, saving energy, and transforming hazardous material into benign waste.

Radioactive waste from the nuclear power process, medical use of radioisotopes, and industrial uses often ends up in the oceans.

Example: Post the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station explosion, radioactive waste drifted across the northern Pacific Ocean towards Canada and the USA.

Plastics are a severe problem in marine pollution. They take decades to decompose, harming wildlife that inadvertently consume them.

Example: A Dutch study found that 95% of fulmars (a bird species) found dead around the North Sea had an average of 44 pieces of plastic in their stomachs.

These plastics break down through photodegradation into smaller particles that remain plastic, posing a threat to marine life.

GPGP is a large mass of marine pollutants concentrated by ocean currents. It's a massive, slow-moving mass surrounded by the North Pacific gyre.

Around 80% of the waste in GPGP comes from land-based sources, with 20% coming from shipping.

GPGP's size is estimated to vary from 700,000 km² to more than 15 million km² and contain about 100 million tonnes of rubbish.

Example: Much of the plastic in GPGP, due to photodegradation, has become too small to see, severely impacting wildlife, like Laysan albatrosses at Midway Atoll.