A 600-metre-long pipe could be a solution for the oceanic waste problem.
After five years of development and preparation, the world’s first ocean cleaner called Ocean Cleanup System 001 has been launched. The ship with a 600-metre-long pipe has sailed from Los Angeles and is expected to reach its final destination, the Great Pacific Garbage Patch in the central part of the North Pacific, in a few weeks, reports Novac.hr on September 13, 2018.
The creator of the project is Boyan Slat, a Dutch entrepreneur of Croatian origin, who came to the idea at the age of 16 when he visited Greece, where he witnessed the great pollution of the sea. After seeing more plastic bags and garbage in the sea than fish, he knew that one day he had to do something about it. Therefore, in 2013, he started a clean-up project in collaboration with his team, for which they raised 35 million dollars through a crowdfunding campaign.
After being brought to the location, the Ocean Cleanup will form a U-shape and will keep the trash in with the help of a mesh that will go three metres deep into the sea. After the garbage collection process is completed, small boats will arrive to dispatch the trash to recycling.
Scientists warn that there is more than one million tons of plastics at the bottom of the oceans that will never break down, and the volume increases every year. They hope that the waste removal method will prove effective and that they will be able to clean up at least part of the rubbish that has accumulated in the sea for years.
“I hope that the cleaning project will be a solution to this global problem, but I am afraid there are still many unanswered questions,” said Miriam Goldstein, the director of ocean policy at the Centre for American Progress.
If the test attempt is successful, the team says that, with the aid of large cleaners, about 90 percent of the sea garbage could be removed by 2040.
Translated from Novac.hr.
