Solutions proposed by NGOs and individuals There have been a number of NGOs that have proposed specific solutions in regards to the increasing level of waste present in the trash islands. Despite Charles Moore's lack of faith in the formation of an effective solution by suggesting that there is no practical fix for the problem, many non-government organisations and individuals have been defying the odds by attempting to resolve the long-standing issue. Ian Kernan, the Australian founder of Clean up the World, started his environmental campaign after being flabbergasted by the level of waste that he found as part of an around-the-world solo yacht race.
Greenpeace though strongly believe that the issue lies in the waste that lies underneath the surface as it produced reports suggesting that 70% of the plastic that is disposed in the ocean sinks to the bottom, where it then smothers marine-life on the ocean floor. This has been further supported by a United Nations environment program that mentions plastic being accountable for the deaths of more than a million sea birds and 100,000 marine mammals shortly after dutch scientists had discovered 600,000 tonnes of discarded plastic on the bottom of the ocean alone. Greenpeace are steadfast on the idea that the three R's of reducing, re-using and recycling would be a major step towards solving the issue. This is crucial, as the recycling of plastic is not as strong as the basis for the recycling of paper and cardboard. The main problem with the lack of recycling plastic materials is that some plastics release toxic chemicals into the atmosphere and are more expensive to recycle than to simply create a new product from scratch with petrochemicals. In recent times though, a 19-year-old Boyan Slat has unveiled his plans to create an Ocean Cleanup Array that would clean up almost half of the waste present in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch in only 10 years. His idea could remove almost 7,250,000 tonnes of waste from the world's oceans. It is his device that consists of an anchored network of floating blooms and processing platforms that could be dispatched to numerous regions of garbage in the oceans around the world. Instead of moving through the entire ocean, Slat's ingenious invention would span the radius of the garbage patch whilst acting as an enormous funnel. The specific angle of the floating blooms would then force plastic in the direction of the platforms where it would be separated from plankton whilst then being filtered and stored for recycling.