Around 8 million metric tons of plastic enters our oceans every year. That’s the equivalent of a dump truck full of plastic being dumped into the water every minute. I was dumbstruck when my team and I first discovered this staggering amount in 2010. We were one of the first groups to estimate the amount of plastic polluting our oceans—and our food supply. I’ve dedicated my career to understanding and combating plastic pollution, which has driven real change throughout communities.
One of my curiosities started with nothing more than a water bottle, a contact card, a GPS, and a river. On a family trip, I dropped a GPS-tracked water bottle into the Mississippi River in St. Louis, Missouri, just to see where it would go. For 22 days, I monitored its journey—until the GPS lost battery. Eleven days later, I got a call from a fisherman in Louisiana who had found it. The bottle had traveled 881 miles. That moment stuck with me. If a single plastic bottle could make its way downriver that fast, how far could millions of pieces of plastic travel every day? That question led me and my team to start investigating plastic waste on a much larger scale.
In partnership with Kyle Johnsen, an associate professor in UGA’s College of Engineering, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), we developed the Debris Tracker—an app that allows anyone to contribute to the fight against plastic pollution. Users mark where they spot litter in their communities before disposing of it, creating a crowdsourced map of pollution hotspots. This data helps local leaders, lawmakers, and waste management officials see the scale of the problem and take action. Thanks to support from Morgan Stanley and the National Geographic Society, we’ve been able to grow this effort into a powerful tool for change. Since launching in 2010, more than 10,000 users worldwide have tracked over 5 million pieces of litter, helping to build one of the most comprehensive global databases on plastic pollution.
Beyond tracking waste, I wanted to find ways to stop plastic pollution at its source. That’s why I founded the Circularity Informatics Lab at UGA’s New Materials Institute. There, we focus on sustainable product design and waste management practices that can create a healthier planet. We’re working to advance solutions that rethink how plastic is made, used, and disposed of. I’m grateful to the University of Georgia for its support in this work. Being part of a land-grant university means our research doesn’t just stay in a lab—it benefits people across the state and across the pond.
This mission has taken me far beyond the classroom. As a National Geographic Explorer and recipient of the MacArthur “Genius” Grant, I’ve had the opportunity to share my research on a global stage, connecting with people and organizations equally committed to protecting our environment. The fight against plastic pollution is more than cleaning up what’s already there—we need to change the systems that put it there in the first place. And that’s exactly what I intend to keep doing.
