Large-scale project to clean the ocean from plastic debris resumed its work

Some time ago, we already wrote to you about quitelarge-scale (and ultimately failed) Ocean Cleanup project, launched a year ago. This project was designed to clear the ocean of plastic debris. In January 2019, the team, admitting their mistakes, began to finalize a generally quite promising concept. And it seemed that everyone had already forgotten about Ocean Cleanup. But then, suddenly and to the delight of Grete Thunberg, it was announced that the most ambitious project to clean the ocean of plastic was re-launched. But what has changed during this time?

Ocean Cleanup project is extremely promising in its essence

What is Ocean Cleanup?

The basic concept was first introduced atTEDx conference back in October 2012. It was assumed that on the Great Pacific garbage spot (it is practically an “island” of plastic waste in the middle of the ocean), a huge barrier will be set up that will allow collecting floating plastic waste for catching it from the ocean. After a year of testing, the first prototype System 001 began collecting plastic waste. However, the system did not work long. Do you still believe in such projects and in general whether you consider them promising. Write about it in our chat in Telegram.

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January 4, 2019 Ocean Cleanup is broken - froma piece of 18 meters long broke off a massive bent pipe, and part of the plastic before this incident was simply not captured by the system due to the construction moving too quickly. After that, the developers decided to return Ocean Cleanup to the port for repair and modernization.

Our team remains unshakable in itsdetermination to eliminate existing technical problems in order to achieve the goal of cleaning the ocean of plastic waste. - says the chief ideologist of the project Boyan Salt. Although we still have much to do, I am infinitely grateful to the team for its dedication to our mission. And I look forward to continuing to work.

An updated version of Ocean Cleanup receivedthe name System 002, and the design has undergone a number of significant changes and improvements. In particular, engineers attached several huge inflatable buoys that will allow System 002 to be more stable, and a huge 20-meter parachute is designed to solve one of the main shortcomings of System 001. Thanks to the parachute, the structure will not accelerate much and will be able to slow down to the speed of the ocean .

Brought to mind the design of System 002

The capture system was also slightly improved.garbage. Ocean Cleanup can now collect more plastic waste and keep it inside longer. Also, unlike the first version of the installation, it now allows you to collect fishing nets and other large waste without any problems. But that is not all. Special filters installed around the perimeter of the system purify the water of the ocean and from microplastics, the dangers of which have recently been increasingly mentioned by ecologists and even doctors. In addition, the authors of the project say that all trash collected after delivery to land will be recycled.