Unfortunately, every year, more than 12 million tonnes of plastics goes into our oceans and damages sea life and the entire ecosystem.
Estimates shown that in the Pacific Ocean alone, there are around 80,000 tonnes of plastic which is mostly concentrated in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch- a big “island” of plastic floating in the middle of the ocean.
But, thanks to the Ocean Cleanup Foundation, there are technologies being developed to pull put the plastic and put an end to this major pollution problem.
The organisation has activated a $20 million system that is designed to clean the 1.8 trillion pieces of waste floating in the Pacific.
To learn more about this crucial initiative, continue reading the article…
An Ocean Cleanup Is finally Happening
With a system of floating booms, the people behind the project estimate that they will be capable of collecting more than half of the ocean’s plastic in the first year of launch.
The booms were deployed from San Francisco Bay and each of them can trap up to 150,000 pounds of plastic on a yearly basis while floating between California and Hawaii.
These inflatable booms have 10 feet of netting below them and will be towed out 1,400 miles around October to the Garbage Patch where they believe will start to collect the plastic.
The booms are thought to create a U-shaped formation that will be able to hold smaller plastic in the net and the fish will swim underneath.
When a boom and the net become full, a boat comes and takes the plastic and takes it for recycling. Many are wondering how the fish avoid the net because the system has not been tested to open water.
A cleanup of this level has never been tried out before and researchers hope that it will be the long-looked for solution to ocean pollution.
The Disastrous Impact of Ocean Waste
Without doubt, ocean pollution is a major issue for the humanity and the ecosystem. Every year, thousands of sea birds and other creatures die as a result of consuming plastics and microplastics.
Moreover, a major amount of the chemicals linked with microplastics are cancerous and are now becoming part of the food we eat. The Department for the Environment and Rural Affairs claims that more research is necessary; however, the presence of marine microplastics in seafood may be a threat to food safety.
The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is one of the major areas with plastic debris in the oceans and it is considered to have been created gradually through years of plastics being brought by ocean currents.
Sources: