Illustration by Milorad Vidojević/Jelena Pucarević/Milica Pihler, eVolo

Another solution to the Great Pacific Garbage Patch problem might come in the twisted shape of "oceanscrapers" built on underwater landfills, such as the Lady Landfill Skycrapers imagined above by a Serbian design team.

Trash would be collected at the bottoms of the towers and recycled in their cores. The undersea towers would support above-water islands hosting self-sufficient human settlements.

To keep the housing developments above from sinking, the Lady Landfill Skycrapers would take in or release ocean water to counteract the changing amounts of buoyant plastic trash in the hulls.

Plastics no longer needed for flotation would be converted into energy stored in massive batteries for charging island life, the designers say.