The second of two research ships bound for a huge “island” of plastic debris in the Pacific Ocean leaves San Francisco today.

Ocean currents have pushed the refuse together in an area estimated to be larger than the State of Texas.

The expedition, named Project Kaisei, will study the impact of the waste on marine life.

Ultimately the organisers hope to clear the plastic and recycle it for use as fuel and new products.

Speaking from the quayside in San Francisco, waiting for the second ship to leave, Ryan Yerkey, the project’s chief of operations, told BBC News: “Every piece of trash that is left on a beach or ends up in our rivers or estuaries and washes out to the sea is an addition to the problem, so we need people to be the solution.”

“Twenty years from now we can’t be harvesting the ocean for trash. We need to get it out but we need to also have people make those changes in their lives to stop the problem from growing and hopefully reverse the course.”

Five-day journey

The two ships, Kaisei – which left today – and New Horizon from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography – which left on 2 August – will take five days to reach the debris.

They will return at the end of the month.

The vortex of currents which pushes the debris together is known as the North Pacific Gyre.

Ryan Yerkey has sailed across the Pacific twice and has watched the problem build up since the 1980s. He blames our increased use of disposable products.

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Governor Rick Perry, Attorney General Greg Abbot and Agriculture Commissioner Todd Staples announced today that the state is taking legal action in the U.S Court of Appeals challenging the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) decision to regulate green house gases.

“This legal action is being taken to protect Texas economy and the jobs that go with it, as well as defend Texas’ freedom to continue our successful environmental strategies free from federal overreach”, said Perry.

Since 2007, when the Supreme Court in Massachusetts v. EPA concluded that greenhouse gases are air pollutants covered by the Clean Air Act the debate over policy approaches to addressing climate change has intensified, so also questions as to whether the health and environmental benefits of air pollution control justify the costs incurred by industry, taxpayers, and consumers.

“With billions of dollars at stake, EPA outsources the scientific basis for its greenhouse gas regulation to a scandal-plagued international organization that cannot be considered objective or trustworthy”, said Attorney General Greg Abbot, “so EPA should not rely upon it to reach a decision that will hurt small businesses, farmers and ranchers, and the larger Texas economy”.

The state has filed a Petition for review with the U.S Court of Appeals for the D.C Circuit, and will also file a Petition for Reconsideration with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) asking administrator Lisa P. Jackson to reconsider her decision. Texas holds that EPA’s Endangerment Finding is legally unsupported because the agency outsourced scientific assessment to the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Dr. Phil Jones, a scientist at the center of the Climategate scandal has acknowledged problems with climate change science.

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