Scientists drop messages in bottles into the River Ganges

WHAT DID THEY DO?

Researchers from the University of Exeter and the Zoological Society of London released 25 500ml plastic bottles at various spots along the River Ganges. Originating in the Himalayas, the Ganges flows through India and Bangladesh before reaching the Bay of Bengal in the Indian Ocean. By embedding GPS and satellite tags into the bottles, the researchers were able to track them as they floated and bobbed their way downstream.

WHY DID THEY DO THAT?

They wanted to observe how far-reaching the impact of plastic pollution is by finding out how many ecosystems simple rubbish, such as plastic bottles, can interact with.

WHAT DID THEY FIND?

The bottles all followed the same route downstream, with a few getting stuck along the way. Once they reached the estuary, they followed coastal currents, then dispersed and travelled further into the open ocean. One bottle released into the Bay of Bengal at the mouth of the Ganges travelled 2,854km in just 94 days.