Atlantic ocean plastic more than 10 times previous estimates

UK National Oceanography Centre, which studied waters between Britain and Falklands, says action needed urgently

More than 10 times as much plastic has been found in the Atlantic ocean than previously estimated to be there, showing the the world's plastic problem is likely to be much greater than realised.

New measurements of the top 200m of the Atlantic found between 12 and 21 million tonnes of microscopic particles of three of the most common types of plastic, in about 5% of the ocean. That would indicate a concentration in the Atlantic of about 200 million tonnes of these common plastics.