Give Trash a Second Life! So Recycle! Recycling is great as plastic never actually breaks down, but breaks into smaller plastics called microplastics. Recycling gives trash a second life so your plastic bottle could end up as a new water bottle.

There is a lot of trash in the oceans, and The Ocean Cleanup Organization is trying to help.

There is an organization called The Ocean Cleanup that has created a special floating barrier to collect rubbish from the ocean. The barrier has a net underneath, and it is pulled by a boat to trap the trash. When animals get stuck in the net they stop the ship and put it back in the water.

But when they first tried it in 2018, it didn't work very well. The boat that was pulling the barrier went faster than the rubbish was floating, so the trash ended up going over the barrier instead of getting trapped. Oops! But they didn't give up. They made some changes to the system. They added something called an underwater parachute to slow the barrier down. This way it moves at the same speed as the floating trash. They tested this system in a place called the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, which is an area with a lot of trash in the Pacific Ocean. And guess what? It worked!

In the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, there are about 1.8 trillion pieces of trash! That's a huge number! The Ocean Cleanup Organization has a goal to collect 50% of the rubbish in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch by the year 2025. They are working hard to clean up the ocean and make it a better place for animals and people.