The Ocean Cleanup system isn't capturing plastic—yet
- 5 years ago
GREAT PACIFIC GARBAGE PATCH — A system designed to reduce the amount of plastic pollution in the Pacific Ocean has not been collecting plastic.
According to Forbes, the Ocean Cleanup System 001 created by The Ocean Cleanup left San Francisco in September with an overall goal of cleaning up half of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch in five years and a 90 percent reduction by 2040.
System 001 is a 2,000 feet long floater, with a 10-foot deep skirt connected below. The floater is designed to stop plastics from flowing over the system, while the skirt traps particles from escaping underneath.
It's made from HDPE plastic and is flexible enough to bend with the waves, but rigid enough to form a U-shaped barrier to trap floating plastics pollution, according to Fast Company.
The design takes advantage of natural oceanic forces to retrieve and concentrate the plastic.
According to project leaders, aside from 2 metric tons of discarded fishing nets, no significant amount of plastic has yet been removed.
The problem appears to be the system is moving too slow. Plastic enters the system, but is only concentrated for a few days, which is not long enough for it to be harvested.
The organization said another problem is the system creates waves, preventing some plastic from entering the device.
According to the organizers, increasing the span of System 001 should increase the surface that will effectively catch wind and waves, adding force, and increasing the floater's speed.
They plan to make the system 25 percent bigger by opening the floater around 197 to 230 feet.
According to Forbes, the team will continue to work to find a solution and hope to launch a System 002 in early 2020.
According to Forbes, the Ocean Cleanup System 001 created by The Ocean Cleanup left San Francisco in September with an overall goal of cleaning up half of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch in five years and a 90 percent reduction by 2040.
System 001 is a 2,000 feet long floater, with a 10-foot deep skirt connected below. The floater is designed to stop plastics from flowing over the system, while the skirt traps particles from escaping underneath.
It's made from HDPE plastic and is flexible enough to bend with the waves, but rigid enough to form a U-shaped barrier to trap floating plastics pollution, according to Fast Company.
The design takes advantage of natural oceanic forces to retrieve and concentrate the plastic.
According to project leaders, aside from 2 metric tons of discarded fishing nets, no significant amount of plastic has yet been removed.
The problem appears to be the system is moving too slow. Plastic enters the system, but is only concentrated for a few days, which is not long enough for it to be harvested.
The organization said another problem is the system creates waves, preventing some plastic from entering the device.
According to the organizers, increasing the span of System 001 should increase the surface that will effectively catch wind and waves, adding force, and increasing the floater's speed.
They plan to make the system 25 percent bigger by opening the floater around 197 to 230 feet.
According to Forbes, the team will continue to work to find a solution and hope to launch a System 002 in early 2020.