Man's 300-nautical mile swim highlight's plastic pollution in oceans

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Sunday, September 1, 2019
Man's 300-nautical mile swim highlight's plastic pollution in oceans
A world renowned ultra-swimmer made his way under the Golden Gate Bridge Saturday from Hawaii.

SAN FRANCISCO -- A world-renowned ultra-swimmer made his way under the Golden Gate Bridge Saturday from Hawaii.

Ben Lecomte arrived at the Golden Gate Yacht Club after swimming more than 300 nautical miles. He spent 79 days in the Pacific to highlight the perils of plastic littering the ocean.

More than three million tons of waste is produced each year by humans globally, and much of this ends up in certain parts of the ocean, like the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, along the California coast.

"We saw a lot of household products that we all use every day, and also microplastics, so microplastic is on the surface of the water or in the water below me," said ocean activist Ben Lecomte.

Lecomte is an ambassador for "Icebreaker," an ethical clothing line.

Many of the microplastics that end up in the ocean are from synthetic fabric.