A giant floating trash collector will try to scoop up the Great Pacific Garbage Patch (1 Viewer)

[Saint_Ward]

A giant floating trash collector will try to scoop up the Great Pacific Garbage Patch

SAN FRANCISCO – On Sept. 8, an ungainly, 2,000-foot-long contraption will steam under the Golden Gate Bridge in what’s either a brilliant quest or a fool's errand.

Dubbed the Ocean Cleanup Project, this giant sea sieve consists of pipes that float at the surface of the water with netting below, corralling trash in the center of a U-shaped design.

The purpose of this bizarre gizmo is as laudable as it is head-scratching: to collect millions of tons of garbage from what's known as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, which can harm and even kill whales, dolphins, seals, fish and turtles that consume it or become entangled in it, according to researchers at Britain's University of Plymouth.

The project is the expensive, untried brainchild of a 23-year-old Dutch college dropout named Boyan Slat, who was so disgusted by the plastic waste he encountered diving off Greece as a teen that he has devoted his life to cleaning up the mess.

Along with detractors who want to prioritize halting the flow of plastics into the ocean, the Dutch nonprofit gathered support from several foundations and philanthropists, including billionaire Salesforce founder Marc Benioff. In 2017, the Ocean Cleanup Project received $5.9 million in donations and reported reserves from donations in previous years of $17 million.

Worth a shot, and I hope it works. But the scientist interviewed later is right. If we don't stop how all that gunk is getting in there, we're just vacuuming during a sandstorm.

 

[Jameth]

If 50% of the garbage patch is really plastic fishing nets, a ban on plastic fishing nets would seem like a sensible solution. I’ll start holding my breath from now until a rational course of action overrules the dollar bill.

 

[baarbogast]

I hope that it works, just wondering if there are cruise ship regulation about dumping. I've always wondered if we could make hemp trash bags for organic waste, actually any waste. If the organic/non-organic were separated that would be a good start to cleaning the mess.

 

[Jameth]

I hope that it works, just wondering if there are cruise ship regulation about dumping. I've always wondered if we could make hemp trash bags for organic waste, actually any waste. If the organic/non-organic were separated that would be a good start to cleaning the mess.

You’ve highlighted a major issue with today’s society - the widespread lack of composting done at the household and community levels.

Hemp bags would work well for transporting compostable waste at the community level. At the household level, it would go right in the composter.

 

[Soundwave]

Sounds like there is a lot of criticism for such a well intentioned endeavor. It is well worth the shot.

 

[Swampy Saint]

Sounds like there is a lot of criticism for such a well intentioned endeavor. It is well worth the shot.

Agreed.
If nothing else, it's a step in the right direction.

 

[Jeff Miller]

I don't take issue with trying to clean it up, but since most of this garbage comes from outside of the US, there's nothing to stop the dumpers from other countries to just replace the collected garbage with more.

 

[Sandman]

We just need to bio-engineer giant, plastic-eating fish, and let them go to town.

 

[Bronson]

Sounds like there is a lot of criticism for such a well intentioned endeavor. It is well worth the shot.

What about the microbacterium that have adapted to the environment? Are there plans to relocate these colonies and their families? Who are we to play God?

 

[Sun Wukong]

It's nice to try, I guess, but the garbage patch is twice the size of Texas. He could run that thing for a year and hardly make a dent.

 

[Domefan504]

I don't take issue with trying to clean it up, but since most of this garbage comes from outside of the US, there's nothing to stop the dumpers from other countries to just replace the collected garbage with more.

What are you talking about?

 

[porculator]

If 50% of the garbage patch is really plastic fishing nets, a ban on plastic fishing nets would seem like a sensible solution. I’ll start holding my breath from now until a rational course of action overrules the dollar bill.

That is crazy that it is 50% fishing nets. Usually these problems are a lot more complex than they seem, but this one is just painfully obvious.

 

[Brad Mojo]

If this succeeds, what will they going to do with all of the garbage they collect?

 

[Tapxe]

We just need to bio-engineer giant, plastic-eating fish, and let them go to town.

Do you want a sharknado? Because that's how you get a sharknado.

 

[Sandman]

Do you want a sharknado? Because that's how you get a sharknado.

I do want Sharknado.