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Ocean Cleaning System To Launch 2016 29 May 15

marine debris
Source: NOAA
Earth’s oceans are overloaded with plastic bags and other kinds of synthetic debris, which can be deadly for aquatic animals and detrimental to the marine environment. According to a 2014 study there are 5.25 trillion pieces of plastic weighing 269,000 tons dispersed in oceans! This pollution is estimated to harm 100,000 sea turtles and marine mammals and 1,000,000 ocean animals each year.

In 2013, Boyan Slat,founder and CEO of Dutch-registered nonprofit organization The Ocean Cleanup, developed a trash collector which was promised to clean up the world’s oceans. Slat recently announced that this ambitious project is going to be deployed in 2016.

The system will span 2000 meters, becoming the longest floating structure ever deployed in the ocean (beating the current record of 1000 m held by the Tokyo Mega-Float). It will be operational for at least two years, catching plastic pollution before it reaches the shores of the deployment location of Tsushima island. Tsushima island is evaluating whether the plastic can be used as an alternative energy source.

“Taking care of the ocean garbage problem is one of the largest environmental challenges mankind faces today. Not only will this first cleanup array contribute to cleaner waters and coasts but it is also an essential step towards our goal of cleaning up the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. This deployment will enable us to study the system’s efficiency and durability over time.” said Boyan Slat, founder and CEO of The Ocean Cleanup.

View May 29, 2015 Al Jazeera America article
View May 20, 2015 The Ocean Cleanup article
View May 29, 2015 The Mind Unleashed article
Watch June 6, 2014 The Ocean Cleanup video
View December 13, 2014 National Geographic article
View September 11, 2013 The Mind Unleashed article
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Manitoba Wildlands2002-2014