Ocean Cleanup Project Evolves
A few years ago, young Dutch entrepreneur Boyan Slat came up with an innovative idea to
rid the world’s oceans of its plastic garbage. Now his vision becomes true.
Founded in 2013 by Boyan Slat (1994), The Ocean Cleanup is a Dutch-registered non-profit foundation aimed
to clean the ocean from hazardous plastic waste by using an innovative floating barrier. In 2014, he raised $
2.2 million through crowd funding, and hired a team of 100 scientists and engineers, to create his vision.
This idea came to him at the age of 16, in the summer of 2011, when diving in Greece. He saw more plastic
bags than fish. He was shocked, and even more shocked that there was no apparent solution. Slat had always
enjoyed working out solutions to puzzles, and while pondering this one, it came to him - rather than chases
plastic, why not harness the currents and wait for it to come to you?
In November 2014 Boyan received the United Nations’ highest environmental award by Secretary-General Ban
Ki-moon. Also, he has been recognised as one of the 20 Most Promising Young Entrepreneurs Worldwide (Intel
EYE50). His solution has been supported by the Dutch government and international communities.
Major environmental problem
Floating plastic junk is a major environmental problem. For example, the Japanese island of Tsushima sees
12,000 cubic meters of garbage washed on its beaches.
Scientists recently discovered that the floating plastic at some point breaks up into smaller pieces, also known
as micro-plastics. It is estimated that at least 5 trillion pieces of plastic are floating in the world’s oceans. Two-
thirds of that waste is between 0.33 millimeters and 4 millimeters in diameter. These micro-plastics contain
poisonous chemicals, which can be harmful to life.
An innovative solution
Boyan came up with the idea to develop floating barriers which collect the plastic waste by using just the
current of the sea. The collected junk can be used as an alternative energy source.
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This year (2016) the Ocean Cleanup project will build a 2 kilometer long barrier off the coast of Tsushima,
claimed to be the longest structure in the sea in the world.
The goal is to place a 100 kilometer long structure in the ‘great Pacific garbage patch’, between California and
Hawaii, which contains half of the plastic waste in the Pacific Ocean.
Stationary barrier using ocean’s current
What makes the Ocean Cleanup special? It is a stationary barrier which uses the current of the ocean to collect
the plastic waste in a central point. ‘Why move through the oceans, if the oceans can move through you?
Instead of going after the plastic using boats and nets, The Ocean Cleanup will use long floating barriers, using
the natural movement of the ocean currents to passively concentrate the plastic itself ‘, the organization says.
Ocean Cleanup explains, ‘Virtually all of the current flows underneath these booms, taking away all (neutrally
buoyant) sea life, preventing by-catch, while the lighter-than-water plastic collects in front of the floating
barrier. The scalable array of floating barriers, attached to the seabed, is designed for large-magnitude
deployment, covering millions of square kilometers without moving a centimeter.’
Mega Expedition
In August 2015, around 30 vessels crossed the Great Pacific Garbage Patch in parallel, becoming the largest
ocean research expedition ever. Sailing between Hawaii and Los Angeles, the expedition covered 3.5 million
square kilometers and collected more data on oceanic plastic than has been collected in the past 40 years
combined.
North Sea as a test bed
The Dutch government recently granted Ocean Cleanup a part of the North Sea, 23 kilometers off the coast of
Scheveningen, to be used as a test bed for their barrier. They will monitor the installation’s behavior in rough
weather situations.
Further information
http://www.theoceancleanup.com/
