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PAC-MAN STYLE
Last weekend, a Dutch non-profit organization deployed a giant trap in the San Francisco Bay Area. The organization, called The Ocean Cleanup, says the trap will pick up plastic debris in the Pacific Ocean.
If all goes well in the initial tests, the organization could deploy the craft on the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, a large debris field floating between Hawaii and California. There, it could start reducing the amount of waste that clogs our oceans.
PLASTICS
Water currents feed the aircraft, driving both sides of the U-shaped 600 meter (1,968 feet) craft. Corrects garbage in its center "like a giant Pac-Man" so garbage can be put back on the ground for sorting and recycling.
The Ocean Cleanup estimates that the boom could collect up to 150,000 pounds of plastic during its first year of operation. While this is only a fraction of the 87,000 tonnes of waste estimated in the Great Pacific Litter Pit, the non-profit organization hopes to be able to remove half of the land within five years – if it can deploy dozens of additional booms.
Difficult waters
However, experts expressed concern that the gear could trap marine wildlife like a giant fishing net.
"There is concern that you can not remove the plastic without removing marine life at the same time," said George Leonard, chief scientist at the Ocean Conservancy, in an interview with the New York Times. "The fishing industry knows that if you set up a structure at sea, it acts as a fish aggregator."
And the ocean environment can also be hard and unpredictable. Until the boom in the Pacific (which The Ocean Cleanup expects in mid-October, provided the tests go well), it will be difficult to know if it can withstand the winds. violent, corrosive salt water and chaotic storms of the open sea
READ MORE: A giant trap is deployed to capture plastic waste in the Pacific Ocean[[[[The New York Times]
More on cleaning the oceans: the Pacific Ocean is one step closer to being almost completely free of debris
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