Fishing nets and lines account for half of all waste within the infamous Great Pacific Garbage Patch.24 Figgener reports finding “ghost nets swimming in our oceans,” rice bags, and other “big debris where turtles can become entangled.”25 “Recycling isn’t really working,” Figgener explains. “We’re not really recycling. When we do, it is kind of a downcycling, not an upcycling. Eventually, you know, recycling with plastics, unlike aluminum or glass, happens a few times, if at all, before it ends up in landfills.”26
