The Great Pacific garbage patch is a whirlpool of marine debris, mostly tiny pieces of plastic, in the central North Pacific Ocean. The patch mostly consists of pelagic plastics, formed from plastic bags, plastic water bottles, bottle caps and styrofoam. Plastic does not biodegrade, the sun breaks these down into smaller and smaller pieces through photodegradation, which is why it is so difficult to judge the size of the patches, since these pieces are not visible from satellites or planes.
