The Ocean Cleanup Array is on schedule to rid the oceans of plastic pollution. In 2016, the world’s first and largest oceanic plastic pollution cleanup will take place off the coast of Japan, near the island of Tsushimain.
Future plans of The Ocean Cleanup Foundation include gathering and disposing of the plastic trash in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch . Twenty-year-old Boyan Slat, a Danish boy genius, inventor, and CEO of The Ocean Cleanup Foundation, designed a system called The Ocean Cleanup Array with the goal and mission to remove plastic debris from the world’s oceans.
Young inventor, Boyan Slat spoke with Al Jazeera America and explained his intentions.
“I’ve always been interested in technology, and I was launching rockets at 12 years old. Eventually I started studying aerospace engineering, but I dropped out to try to develop this ocean clean up idea.”
Boyan said he came up with the idea when he was on holiday in Greece. He added he was skin-diving and realized he came across more plastic bags than fish.
Slat said, “I wondered, ‘Why can’t we clean this up?’”
Boyan Slat’s realization inspired him to find a way to rid the oceans of plastic with an environmentally friendly, passive apparatus capable of collecting the debris and eventually relocating the trash to another location on land to be recycled. With the help of hundreds of volunteers, The Ocean Cleanup Array was designed and developed.
The Ocean Cleanup Array will be used “to passively clean up plastic pollution from the world’s oceans.”
The way the Ocean Cleanup Array works is quite incredible. The structure spans nearly one mile long, making it the world’s longest floating structure ever developed for oceanic operation. The device will link to the ocean floor in areas where plastic debris gathers due to ocean currents.
According to Slat, when the ocean currents move the plastic garbage towards the area where the Ocean Cleanup Array is located, the barrier will collect the debris and place it in a collection platform.
The Ocean Cleanup Foundation works with close to 100 committed and dedicated volunteers and people who perform research in a variety of fields, such as ecology, engineering, maritime law, processing and recycling, finance, and physical oceanography. Boyan Slat, The Ocean Cleanup Foundation founder, shares his thoughts on this gigantic challenge.
“Taking care of the world’s 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 simultaneously is 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.”
[Featured image via Wonderful Engineering]
