Based on the collection of 141 debris sites, there is, at the time this article was written, 7,000 to 35,000 tons of floating plastic debris. According to Andrés Cózar, there was less plastic that previously estimate. During the 1970's, scientists surmised there was around 1 million tons of plastic debris. Researchers think that data from tracking trash will help them learn more about how the trash affects ocean life because if they are able to track the trash, they can track how much trash the wildlife are eating. It can also help tell the scientists where the trash is, therefore, they are able to pick up some of the
