Giant plastic catcher heads for Pacific Ocean

[Still Waters]

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When a Dutch teenager went swimming in the sea in Greece seven years ago, he was shocked to see more plastic than fish.

In fact, Boyan Slat was so appalled by the pollution that he soon started to campaign for the oceans to be cleaned up.

For a long time, few people took him seriously. Here was a university drop-out with a far-fetched idea that surely could never work.

But this weekend, backed by major investment and some massive engineering, a vast plastic collection system will be towed out of San Francisco Bay.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-45438736

 

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Between California and Hawaii, the patch, also known as a gyre, is three times the size of France and contains as many as two trillion pieces of plastic waste. It is believed to be the largest of five huge gyres in the world's oceans.

The Ocean Cleanup system comprises a 600-metre long boom, called a floater, with a skirt attached. Pulled into a horseshoe shape, it is hoped it will act as an artificial coastline and scoop up the plastic waste.

https://news.sky.com/story/new-weapon-in-fight-against-ocean-pollution-11492922

 

[Farmer77]

God Blessem thats amazing!

[Wickian]

Considering our waste accumulation is only going to keep growing larger, being an Oceanic Sanitation Worker might actually be a stable job industry if the government had any desire to fund it.

[Farmer77]

Just now, Wickian said:

Considering our waste accumulation is only going to keep growing larger, being an Oceanic Sanitation Worker might actually be a stable job industry if the government had any desire to fund it.

If only we could send a massive ship outfitted solely for recycling and another outfitted for production of some kind along with the collector.

[Wickian]

14 minutes ago, Farmer77 said:

If only we could send a massive ship outfitted solely for recycling and another outfitted for production of some kind along with the collector.

It would probably be more worthwhile to intercept future oceanic waste for recycling before it even gets there and focus mostly on cleanup.  I'm not sure if plastic that might have been floating in the ocean for years can be recycled all that easily since the process will probably collect a lot of organic material/organisms as well.

[pallidin]

I applaud the efforts.

As other's have alluded to, this should be a multi-pronged solution management approach from both ends of the problem... cleanup and abating waste release into our ocean system.

Given the enormous hazard such waste infers, especially as that waste is degraded into ever smaller pieces, AND, given that these efforts are likely unprofitable from a business standpoint (perhaps even a negative return), this massive project seems well-suited for United Nations consideration as how to deal with this and how to fund it.

[Myles]

I agree that this is good news and getting into the industry may be worth a look.   I too am unsure if there is any money to be made by doing this. 

I would think that donations should be easy to come by.   People with extra cash would put this near the top of their lists I imagine.   Wanting to help the environment.   This is as direct as it gets.  

[pallidin]

Hard-core business people often have little to no regard to ecology.

When they do, it's often a manipulative "tax write-off"

They would prefer all goods be produced in China (or similar) where it's cheaper due to labor compensation being raped, child labor, and extremely poor working conditions.

Those types of business people are in it for the money... NOTHING ELSE.

[Doug1029]

On 9/8/2018 at 5:48 AM, Wickian said:

Considering our waste accumulation is only going to keep growing larger, being an Oceanic Sanitation Worker might actually be a stable job industry if the government had any desire to fund it.

There's a market for the plastic waste collected, apparently enough to make a profit doing it.

 

Save the world and get rich!  What's not to like?

Doug

[Still Waters]

Update: Things didn't go according to plan.

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A giant floating barrier launched off the coast of San Francisco as part of a $20m project to cleanup a swirling island of rubbish between California and Hawaii, is failing to collect plastic.

The mastermind behind the Ocean Cleanup, an ambitious plan to clear a swathe of the Pacific twice the size of Texas of floating debris, reported four weeks into testing that while the U-shaped device was scooping up plastic, it was then losing it.

Inventor Boyan Slat, 24, said that the slow speed of the solar-powered 600m-long barrier means it is unable to hold on to plastics, but a team of experts is now working on a possible fix.

“What we’re trying to do has never been done before. So, of course we were expecting to still need to fix a few things before it becomes fully operational,” Slat explained.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/dec/20/great-pacific-garbage-patch-20m-cleanup-fails-to-collect-plastic

 

[Ares_Zeusson]

On 9/8/2018 at 5:50 AM, Farmer77 said:

If only we could send a massive ship outfitted solely for recycling and another outfitted for production of some kind along with the collector.

Produce something that fights plastic with plastic maybe?

More like repurpose the plastic rather than recycle it. A floating recycling center & manufacturing plant would have to be massive.