Charles J. Moore

TL;DR: The total number of plastic particles and their weight floating in the world's oceans is estimated from 24 expeditions across all five sub-tropical gyres, costal Australia, Bay of Bengal and the Mediterranean Sea conducting surface net tows and visual survey transects of large plastic debris.

TL;DR: Model calculations and experimental observations consistently show that polyethylene accumulates more organic contaminants than other plastics such as polypropylene and polyvinyl chloride, and PCBs could transfer from contaminated plastics to streaked shearwater chicks.

TL;DR: Current understanding of the benefits and concerns surrounding the use of plastics are synthesized, and future priorities, challenges and opportunities are looked to.

TL;DR: Marine plastic debris is divided into two categories: macro, >5 mm and micro, <5 mm, which provide potential danger to marine ecosystems from the accumulation of plastic debris on the sea floor and the potential bioavailability of compounds added to plastics at the time of manufacture, as well as those adsorbed from the environment.

TL;DR: Monitoring waste disposal on ships and plastic debris levels in rivers and storm-water runoff is useful because it identifies the main sources of plastic debris entering the sea and can direct mitigation efforts.