The Dutch nonprofit Ocean Cleanup has built a massive system that will clean up plastic from the Pacific Ocean. It was announced on Wednesday that it has begun operations .
As Ocean Cleanup founder and CEO Boyan Slat said at a press conference in Rotterdam, the machine can trap everything from the remains of huge fishing gear to the tiniest pieces of trash no larger than 1 millimeter. The cleaning system is located just below the surface of the water and moves with the currents while collecting the floating plastics. As Boyan Slat, there is no risk to fish and other animals, since they can swim normally below.
The cleaning system collects and holds the trash until a ship can pick it up. For now, it is located between Hawaii and California , where there is a huge concentration of plastic. The worrying thing is that it is a huge area, which is about three times the size of France.
The Ocean Cleanup plans to build a fleet of these devices and predicts it will be able to reduce plastic by half every five years.
The new system launched in June, and after some trial and error, the Ocean Cleanup team got it working properly.
Slat said that there is now a self-contained system in the Pacific Ocean that uses the natural forces of the ocean to trap and collect plastic waste.
At this stage, there are still a few hurdles to overcome before they can perfect the system. The Ocean Cleanup's goal is for the final system to be able to survive for years in the admittedly harsh conditions of the Pacific Ocean - and beyond - and to be able to hold onto plastic for longer between pickups, in order for the project to be economically viable.
