example, the platform responsible
for collecting the plastic started off
looking like a speedboat. It’s now
more like an oil rig because that’s
the way things stay afloat during
hurricanes. I couldn’t have known
that, especially when I started this
because I didn’t have any offshore
knowledge. Science is a continual
work in progress and every time we
get new results we should be flexible enough to immediately implement that.
first stage of engineering should be
complete. It’s great that we can
determine our own timeline.
JK: What was the most original
research you’ve undertaken?
Boyan: One of the great things we
did was, as there wasn’t any really
good data on the vertical distributions of plastics, we didn’t really
know up to what depth we had to
clean up. So we went out and did
three expeditions to measure it.
Also, the entire engineering process is new and we successfully
applied for patents so that proves
how new our designs are.
JK: The feasibility study suggested a cleanup efficiency of
42%. How did you arrive at
that figure?
Boyan: In the past there have been
many computer models that map
ocean currents; they throw expensive stuff with GPS into the ocean
and track them. In 2010, there
were 3 scientists that independently started to make models with data
on the concentrations of the plastic
and got pictures showing the five
garbage patches in the gyres. The
garbage is not static; it’s moving
around so we use those computational fluid dynamics models to
JK: What are the main differences you’ve found between
what you thought you could
achieve at the time of your TED
talk and what you know now?
Boyan: Interesting question...
I think it’s important to stress
that the basic concept remains
unchanged and has now been validated. However, there are some
details that weren’t filled in. For
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