Shipping traffic accounts for a larger percentage of plastic trash in some parts of the oceans than scientists realized. (Credit: Stephane Bidouze)

Rafts of garbage, assembled by currents that swirl trash together, clog our oceans. But how did that material wind up far from shore in the first place? A new study takes a look at the refuse that washes up on a remote island in the South Atlantic and arrives at a perhaps unexpected answer: The trash is being dumped from ships.

The findings, p