0m
Sunlight Zone
One Dive · Seeing the Unseen Ocean

We left our plastic
in the ocean

Every piece washed, weathered, and cracked by the sun eventually breaks into fragments the ocean can't forget — and can never fully digest. Join us as we descend from a sunlit surface into the depths we rarely see.

Start the dive
200m below · Twilight Zone

Unseen doesn't mean absent

Microplastics — plastic fragments smaller than 5mm — are quietly accumulating in every layer of the ocean. They come from sun-brittled bags, worn tires, synthetic fibers shed in the wash, and countless everyday items we rarely think twice about.

Marine life ingests them

Plankton, fish, and shellfish often mistake microplastics for food. Unable to digest them, animals can suffer false fullness, malnutrition, and even death.

They climb the food chain

Microplastics move up through predation, from plankton to small fish to large fish, concentrating along the way — and may eventually reach our own plates.

Possible health effects

Recent studies have detected microplastics in human blood, placenta, and lung tissue. Their long-term health effects are still being actively researched.

1,200m below · Midnight Zone

Numbers from the deep

8M+
tonnes per year — a commonly cited estimate of plastic waste entering the ocean
Figures are rough estimates drawn from public research and vary by methodology
<5mm
the defining size of microplastics — most fragments are barely visible to the eye
Larger plastic debris continues to weather and fragment into microplastics over time
Centuries
the rough timescale for a piece of plastic to fully break down in the ocean
Exact duration varies widely depending on material and environmental conditions
Back to the Twilight Zone · What We Can Do

Reducing microplastics starts with one choice today

Fighting a pollutant we can barely see often starts with habits we can clearly change. None of these need to be perfect — they just need to start.

Everyday habits

Say no to single-use plastic

Bring your own bag, bottle, and utensils — cutting off plastic at its first point of entry into daily life.

Laundry

Choose natural fibers

Synthetic clothing sheds large amounts of plastic fiber when washed. Cotton, linen, and wool are gentler alternatives.

Washing machine

Add a microfiber filter

A laundry ball or dedicated filter can catch most of the fibers shed during washing, keeping them out of the drain.

Personal care

Watch for plastic microbeads

Some scrubs and cleansers contain plastic microbeads that wash straight into the sewage system. Look for natural exfoliant alternatives.

Take action

Join cleanups and recycle properly

Every piece picked up, every item sorted correctly, is a small repayment of the weight the ocean was never meant to carry.

Bigger picture

Support plastic-reduction policy

Beyond personal habits, plastic-reduction legislation and corporate commitments can drive change at a much larger scale.

Surface · 0m

Protecting the ocean doesn't need a perfect moment

One refusal, one swap, one piece picked up off the sand — these are the changes the ocean remembers. Join us in keeping plastic on land, and giving the ocean back to itself.

Joined by 12,846 people so far