Plastics are ubiquitous in natural systems, and tiny pieces of the material have been found everywhere from the Arctic to the Mariana Trench.

(Bloomberg) — Plastics are ubiquitous in natural systems, and tiny pieces of the material have been found everywhere from the Arctic to the Mariana Trench. To test a theory that satellites could help detect the waste on beaches, Jenna Guffogg hauled discarded scraps from a clam-shell child’s pool, bubble wrap, single-use PET bottles and a blue polyester tarp to her local seashore in Australia.