This story is part of Planet or Plastic?—our multiyear effort to raise awareness about the global plastic waste crisis ... with marine scientists. The photos “give science a visual voice ...

So much plastic is discarded around the world that 8.8 million tons end up in the ocean every year, according to a recent analysis of waste disposal ... and layered her images for a ...

but they also make up a big part of the plastic waste that’s now choking our oceans. PHOTOGRAPH BY PETER STACKPOLE, LIFE PICTURE COLLECTION/GETTY IMAGES After we’d steamed along for a while ...