The engineering team began to work on solutions that we could start trialing in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch (GPGP) this month, tomorrow June 25th. The upgraded design, which they have dubbed System 001/B, will entail various modifications (listed below) that will be tested during our next campaign. By adapting the design to address these unknown learning opportunities, we aim to have a system that can effectively capture plastic and withstand the forces of the ocean.
The Ocean Cleanup is a non-profit organization, developing advanced technologies to rid the world’s oceans of plastic.
The Ocean Cleanup is designing and developing the first feasible method to rid the world’s oceans of plastic. Every year, millions of tons of plastic enter the ocean. A significant percentage of this plastic drifts into large systems of circulating ocean currents, also known as gyres. Once trapped in a gyre, the plastic will break down into microplastics and become increasingly easier to mistake for food by sea life.
Going after it with vessels and nets would be costly, time-consuming, labor-intensive and lead to vast amounts of carbon emission and by-catch. That is why The Ocean Cleanup is developing a passive system, moving with the currents – just like the plastic – to catch it. The system consists of a 600-meter-long floater that sits at the surface of the water and a tapered 3-meter-deep skirt attached below. The floater provides buoyancy to the system and prevents plastic from flowing over it, while the skirt stops debris from escaping underneath. As the system moves through the water, the plastic continues to collect within the boundaries of the U-shaped system.
By utilizing the ocean currents to their advantage, their passive drifting systems are estimated to clean up half the Great Pacific Garbage Patch in 5 years’ time.
Un grupofull fleet of approximately 60 systems, starting in 2020. Following the ramp-up in the Pacific, they aim to expand the cleanup operation to the other 4 ocean garbage patches as well.
To finance the fleet, they will be welcoming companies and individuals to sponsor the cleanup systems. By turning the collected plastic into valuable products, they aim to make the cleanup fleet financially self-sustainable.
