Great Ocean Cleanup! Removing 10 Tons of Plastic from the Great Pacific Garbage Patch!

The Great Pacific Garbage Patch (GPGP) is the world’s largest plastic accumulation area, with an estimated surface area of ​​over 600,000 square miles.

Located halfway between Hawaii and California, GPGP is estimated to contain 2.41 million tons of plastic and it continues to grow.

Scientists are scrambling to remove the buildup, and this month they managed to remove 10 tons (10,086 kg) of plastic, bringing the total amount of plastic removed to 145 tons (145,518 kg).

The Ocean Cleanup project, which aims to clean up GPGP, hopes to cut floating plastic by 90% by 2040.

On October 11, 10,086 kg of plastic was removed from the Great Pacific Garbage Patch in just 6.5 days.

To remove the plastic, the Ocean Cleanup Tool first creates an artificial shoreline around the plastic-oriented GPGP area.

The artificial shoreline consists of a long U-shaped barrier that guides the plastic to a waiting area at the far end.

Ocean Cleanup explains that “by maintaining a relative speed difference relative to the plastic, the plastic can get stuck in the cleaning zone.”

Once the cleaning system is full, the aft onboard storage area is moved, closed, separated from the system and emptied on board.

Then the retention zone is returned to its place, and cleaning continues.

“After our containers are sorted and packed on board, we return them to shore for recycling. With the help of our partners, we plan to turn ocean plastic into durable and valuable products, helping us further fund our operations.” – The Ocean Cleanup explained on Twitter.

So far, 145 tons (145,518 kg) of plastic have been recovered using this technique, ranging from small pieces as small as millimeters to large fragments as large as tens of meters.

However, for the Ocean Cleanup project to reach its goal of removing 90% of the plastic floating in the ocean by 2040, it will need to scale up on a massive scale.

Source: Daily Mail

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