By Liam B.
It is not a well-known fact that much of the plastics in the oceans condenses into huge floating landfills called gyres. All five gyres in the world have harmful effects, especially the one in the Pacific. Around one-third of all ocean plastic is in this ocean, and this quantity of harmful material leads to the death of about a million seabirds and a hundred thousand mammals annually. Many species, such as the Hawaiian Monk Seal and Loggerhead Turtle, are in danger of becoming extinct due to this issue. The economic effects of the plastic are just as astounding. Plastics cause an estimated $1.27 billion (U.S.) in fishing and boat damages. Furthermore, the toxins in these plastics spread up the food chain and can affect humans, causing cancer and other serious diseases.
Despite the lack of public support for solving this problem, a small company called Ocean Cleanup believes that they have found a solution. They know that many previous methods, like dragging a net behind a boat to collect garbage, have failed due to inefficiency and cost. Because of natural winds and currents, these floating landfills slowly spiral in a circle. The Ocean Cleanup team decided to set up a system of barriers on the surface of the ocean that would collect the garbage at one main point where it could be retrieved. Furthermore, the barriers allow water and sea life to pass underneath normally. It is estimated on their website that this system could cleanse a gyre in five to ten years. After a year of research, a design was created that would be effective in 95% of conditions, or all but 18 days each year.
The first experiment completed was a 40-meter model boom that was placed to collect plastic. To the delight of Ocean Cleanup, it worked as they hoped it would. The plastic collected at the center of the V-shaped barrier. Soon after that success, they built another more significant barrier. While impressive, this idea has several important flaws. The greatest, perhaps, is the fact that a large percentage of ocean pollution is not on the surface, and would not be captured. Also, Ocean Cleanup does not describe a feasible way that ships can pass over the floating device. This idea could not take hold if it blocked a large portion of the ocean from naval passage.
Despite these issues, the project and the idea are admirable. We may only hope that a reasonable cleanup method can clean the oceans and prevent the rapid deterioration of healthy aquatic ecosystems around the world. There is no single “magic bullet” to erasing the effects of decades of pollution, but the first step is always to cut them off at the source. Better materials must be used to create cheap products and as ever, and consumers must greatly decrease the number of unnecessary plastic items they use. Corporations need to stop illegally dumping trash into the ocean and start disposing of it properly. If buyers consume less and Ocean Cleanup erases previous effects of pollution, then there is a chance that the ocean surface will be once again relatively free of discarded items.
Ocean Cleanup