Concern is mounting over the volume of plastics in our oceans and, in particular, how tiny particles of plastic and other synthetic materials are infiltrating every part of our ecosystem. Can technology help address the problem?

Axar.az reports citing BBC that in October 2009, windsurfing teacher Rachael Miller went to help clean up an island off the coast of Maine in the north-east of the US.

There had been a heavy storm and "we found the beach covered in debris", she says, mostly washed up plastic fishing gear.

Her husband was incensed. "Marine debris is one of the few things that really make me angry," he said.

So Ms Miller, who had studied marine archaeology, decided to devote herself to keeping plastics from ever reaching the ocean.

In April, she began selling a special gadget for capturing those tiny bits of synthetic material - called microfibres - that come off our clothes in the wash.

Four inches (10cm) in diameter and made from recycled rubber, the Cora Ball imitates the structure of coral in the ocean, and captures between a quarter and a third of microfibres in every wash, the company says.