The Ocean Cleanup’s 2024 annual report describes two approaches to plastic pollution: extracting floating plastic from the ocean and intercepting waste in rivers before it reaches the sea. Those activities address different parts of the problem, so their reported totals should not be combined and described as a Pacific-only removal figure. Annual report
The report says approximately 12 million kilograms of trash was intercepted in rivers during 2024. The description concerns river interception and uses the term trash; it is not evidence of the same weight of ocean plastic removed from the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.
NOAA explains that the garbage patch is a concentration of marine debris, not a continuous island of visible rubbish. Much of the debris is small plastic, and currents and winds affect where it accumulates. That context helps explain why a photograph or a single removal total cannot describe the whole area. NOAA explanation
The Ocean Cleanup’s figures are organization-reported operational results. Readers should retain the year, location, activity and material definition when comparing them. A long-term cleanup target is also different from a measured amount already collected.
Archive note: the earlier Pacific-only plastic-removal milestone was not substantiated.