A campaign was launched to recognize the vast collection of plastic waste covering an area equivalent to the size of France floating in the Pacific as an independent country with its own flag, currency, stamps and passports. London advertising creatives Michael Hughes and Dal Evans De Almeida launched the campaign to force world leaders to address the scale of plastic trash in our oceans. On World Oceans Day an application was submitted to The United Nations to recognise The Trash Isles as an official country. Because if it is recognised as an official country, other countries are obliged to help clean it up. The camapign created an identity for the country and asked the public to support it by becoming citizens. Over 220,000 people signed the change.org petition and became citizens.