The Ocean Cleanup faces a massive challenge: removing 90% of floating plastic waste from the seas by 2040. So, the non-profit organization has been creating and constructing artificial coastlines that catch plastic for simple extraction.
Plastic pollution is a growing problem in our world today. Every year, millions of tons of plastic are produced and discarded, with only a tiny fraction being reclaimed. This means that much of the plastic ends up in our oceans, polluting the water and endangering marine life. In the US, 500 billion plastic bags and 35 billion plastic water bottles are used annually. The average American weighs 181 pounds, 82kg, but throws away 185 pounds, 84kg, of plastic annually, discarding nearly pound for pound their own body weight in plastics, and the environmental impact is astounding.
The Ocean Cleanup is a non-profit organization dedicated to the removal of plastic waste from the world’s oceans. Founded in 2013 by Dutch inventor Boyan Slat, The Ocean Cleanup has developed advanced technologies to capture and remove plastic debris from our oceans. Their mission is to rid the world’s oceans of plastic pollution and to prevent further accumulation, and their impressive impact on ocean plastics can’t be overlooked.
Enormous Trash-Collecting Barriers
A new video gives a fascinating overview of its latest strategy. The animation shows enormous trash-collection barriers efficiently sweeping across the Great Pacific Garbage Patch; the business estimates that ten of these systems would significantly put a dent in the problem.
The Ocean Cleanup team has created and tested numerous variations of its enormous trash-collecting barriers since unveiling the concept in 2013. Its plans call for deploying these barriers in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch to catch pieces of plastic waste, and last year’s massive haul demonstrated the feasibility of this strategy.
The Ocean Cleanup utilizes both passive collection methods and active cleanup techniques to collect and remove plastic waste from the ocean. Passive collection efforts are intended to capture debris that is free-floating, while active cleanup operations focus on sites where there’s a significant accumulation of plastic waste. In addition, this organization collaborates with local communities and governments to decrease the prevalence of marine debris stemming from the illegal disposal of garbage or suboptimal waste management practices. Thanks to their hard work, The Ocean Cleanup has already removed millions of kilograms of plastic waste from our oceans, safeguarding marine life and ecosystems worldwide.
The System 003
The System 002 barrier utilized in that first operational mission is currently being replaced with the much larger System 003 barrier. The Ocean Cleanup System 003 is a revolutionary new device that allows for precise control over the collection of ocean trash. These unique floating U-shaped barriers will be 2,500 m (8,200 ft) long and carried by boats. They collect and contain plastic waste in the ocean. They will divert plastic garbage from the surface into a collection chamber using a 4-m-deep (13-ft) skirt. Then support vessels pick up this waste and transport it back to land.
The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is an environmental disaster that has been growing for decades. It is a massive collection of garbage, mostly plastic, that has accumulated in the ocean and is now twice the size of Texas. It is estimated to contain up to 1.8 trillion pieces of debris, but this number is decreasing due to the efforts of The Ocean Cleanup.
The Ocean Cleanup team’s most recent calculations show that deploying ten barrier systems based on the System 003 design would be enough to capture all 100,000 tonnes of plastic floating in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. This should improve cleanup efficiency and reduce the cost per kilogram of waste collected. Their brand new system will make a significant impact on reducing the amount of plastic pollution in our oceans.
The System 003 barrier is also designed to be more durable and resistant to the harsh conditions of the ocean. It is made from a combination of high-density polyethylene, steel, and aluminum. The skirt is made from a special material that allows it to flex in strong currents while still maintaining its shape. Its adjustable skirt can be adjusted to target specific debris, including plastic bottles, fishing nets, and other types of marine litter.
The Ocean Cleanup team has also developed an advanced navigation system for the System 003 Ocean Cleanup Barrier, which is designed to help collect and recycle ocean trash. The navigation system utilizes a combination of GPS, radar, and sonar technologies to accurately track the location of the barrier in relation to the ocean’s surface.
Recycling Ocean Trash
Fortunately, there are ways to reuse this ocean trash and turn it into something useful. For example, some companies are using recycled ocean plastics to make clothing items like t-shirts or jackets. Others have used recycled ocean plastics to create furniture or even building materials for homes and businesses. There are also initiatives to turn ocean trash into energy sources such as fuel or electricity. The possibilities for the reuse of plastic ocean trash are genuinely endless! By investing in these initiatives and finding creative ways to repurpose this material, we can reduce the amount of plastic that ends up in our oceans each year and help protect our environment for future generations.
According to The Ocean Cleanup, they transport the accumulated garbage and plastic to recycling facilities and even have plans to recycle the found waste and plastic to create new items and products, like sunglasses. The team says, “Catch, rinse, recycle, and repeat until the oceans are clean.” The Ocean Cleanup intends to develop floating systems for capturing plastics ranging from small bits as tiny as a speck of plastic to massive debris such as discarded fishing nets.
They focus on reducing plastic pollution sources and cleaning up what is already accumulated in the ocean to reach this goal. The team can target plastic hotspots, or areas with a higher concentration of waste, thanks to active steering and computer modeling. The group states that its models “will be progressively refined using field data obtained during our offshore missions, allowing for continually smarter operations and more focused cleanup.”
The video below depicts how this would happen. It highlights the scope of the problem and how The Ocean Cleanup intends to address it, with interesting technical elements woven throughout, including the use of drones to find plastic hotspots in the patch.
