(CNN) Almost one million shoes and over 370,000 toothbrushes -- they're among the 414 million pieces of plastic found washed ashore on the remote Cocos (Keeling) Islands in the Indian Ocean, according to new research. In 2017, Lavers revealed research that showed remote Henderson Island in the South Pacific Ocean had the highest density of plastic debris reported anywhere in the world. Plastic found on Cocos (Keeling) IslandCocos (Keeling) Islands had a lower density of plastic than Henderson Island, but the total volume was higher than Henderson Island's 38 million pieces which weighed 17 tonnes. Lavers' co-author, Victoria University's Annett Finger, said an estimated 12.7 million tonnes of plastic entered the world's oceans in 2010 alone. There was an estimated 5.25 trillion pieces of ocean plastic debris, she said.

Source: CNN May 17, 2019 03:00 UTC