This article is part of our November Design special section, which focuses on style, function and form in the workplace.

Unwanted plastics clog landfills and sully city streets and nature preserves. Most alarming to many, the material is beginning to overwhelm the planet’s oceans — from the ballooning Great Pacific Garbage Patch to trash discovered in the Pacific’s deepest reaches.

The amount of plastic streaming into the oceans is roughly the equivalent of a full garbage truck every minute, according to a 2016 report by the World Economic Forum, Ellen MacArthur Foundation and McKinsey & Company.

Even when we undertake the herculean job of scooping plastic trash from the sea or collecting it from beaches, the challenge remains: What to do with it?