There are 5.25 trillion pieces of plastic debris in the ocean. Of that mass, 269,000 tonnes float on the surface, while some four billion plastic microfibres per square kilometre litter the deep sea. Each year, the ocean becomes a magnet for plastic, with some ten million tonnes finding its way into the ocean – a lego brick could survive in the ocean for as many as 1,300 years. Climate changes are now inevitable and irreversible but if we can reach Net Zero by 2050, we can still avoid some of the most devastating effects of global warming, including slowing the heating and reducing the acidity the oceans.

Professor Richard Thompson OBE, head of the International Marine Litter Research Unit at the University of Plymouth, said: “While there is global consensus behind the need for action, we urgently need to stem the flow of plastics from land to sea. Understanding the quantities and types of litter already at sea is of key importance, and satellite technology presents a real opportunity to highlight where larger items exist.”

On June 18, 2022, Hugo and Ross, better known as the Turner Twins, set off on a six week, 100% emission-free sailing expedition to the Atlantic Pole of Inaccessibility where they wanted to complete their Atlantic Plastic Survey to help build a long-term clean up strategy for marine plastic pollution. A Pole of Inaccessibility (POI) is defined as being the geographic location furthest from a coast – often featureless, hostile, and nearly always remote. Hugo and Ross have already reached four of the Poles (Australian, North American, South America, and Iberia), with just five to go (Atlantic, Greenland, Madagascar, Eurasia and point Nemo). They have their sights on reaching all nine.

From start to finish, the trip was 100% emission free, using hydrogen to power everything they need at each step of the journey, from the 40ft yacht’s electric engine to charging the electronics they need to communicate back to land and film the expedition.