JK: So in terms of the project
where are you at right at this
minute?
Boyan: So right now we are finishing up the first phase and making
minor improvements to the report
before we consider it completely
done. We’re making preparations
to start the second phase as soon
as possible, ideally by the end of
September. Then through a series
of upscaling tests we’re working
towards a large scale operational pilot in 3 – 4 years time. Our
crowdfunding campaign is going
well; we’ve raised over $1.8 million
dollars and we’re looking forward to
achieving the $2 million dollar target on the 14th September exactly
on schedule.
JK: Well I’m sure you’ll be successful and I know I hope you
will!
oil. We will separate that from the
better quality plastic and the rest
would be turned into new materials. We’ve done tests and we’ve
been able to heat press these better quality plastics. It’s probably
easier if I just show you...
(He gets up and returns with some
samples of plastic)
This is to give you an idea: this is
what plastic from the ocean looks
like. This was part of a buoy and it
looks like you can’t really do anything with it; do you see the cracks
on it?
JK: Yes.
Boyan: Then we send it out and
actually the quality of something
like this is still good and we can
make a book cover out of this. We
also tried injection moulding it.
Injection moulding can make anything out of the plastic. The quality
is good even though it’s made out
of this material.
The possibilities
are virtually endless and now we’ve
calculated that it’s 4.50 Euros/kilo
to get the plastic out of the centre of the ocean to land, it could
at least return a significant part of
costs.
You can help Boyan Slat to clean
up the oceans. Just check out
WWW.THEOCEANCLEANUP.COM
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