This one is already known, but really deserves our attention. First, because it focuses on repairing the damages we already have done, but also because the story behind this project is inspiring and has become a milestone in the history of clean technologies and innovations.
What is it ?
Does the name of Boyan Slat rings a bell to you ? He is the famous founder of Ocean CleanUp. Mostly because he has invented a way to efficiently remove plastics from water when he was only 18. Since, Ocean CleanUp ihas become an organisation that aims to clean the Ocean from plastic wastes, not a little, not a lot, but almost totally ! Actually, if you want numbers, their goal is to clear 90% of the 5 trillion plastic bits floating in the Oceans.
Why is it useful ?
Plastic pollution has become a major issue these recent years. The amount of plastic wastes in the ocean is estimated at 150 millions tons. And it comes in all shapes and colors : big pieces, small bits, micro particles, bags, bottles, glitter, … Therefore it kills and destroys biomes and ecosystems in multiple ways. While being highly toxic, animals die by suffocation, poisoning, wounds or even get trapped. Plastic bags for example, look a lot like a medusa in the eyes of a sea turtle. Unfortunately, the weird taste doesn’t seem to stop this endangered species to try and swallow it. The rest is history.
But it is even worse : plastic is not biodegradable. Instead, it moulders into particles called microplsatics, being absorbed by the flora and fauna. And when we fish animals (if they’re not dead already), these particles end up in our bodies and poison us (we can call that karma, or the cruel revenge of nature). According to a study, we eat 50 000 of these particles each year ! These microplsatics will keep breaking down into even smaller particles for de next hundreds of years and devastate the ocean wildlife. If we don’t take out of the water all of the plastics that can still be taken out, the oceans will become vast, lifeless expanses of poisoned water…
How does it work ?
In order to do so, they have developped a sort of gigantic net, that accumulates plastic wastes at the surface of oceans. Every now and then, a boat comes and removes the collected wastes. According to their website, their technology could remove half of the Great Pacific Garbage patch in just five years (which consists in 80000 tons of garbage forming a cluster as big as France).
But in situations like this, there is no use to clean the ocean if it keeps being polluted. That’s where their second innovation enters the stage : The Interceptor. A boat with a cool name that collects garbages from river waters, before they reach the ocean. Autonomous and soler energy powered the Interceptor car operate in almost any river. While most of the plastic pollution goes from land to the sea with the help of rivers, this could be a game changer. But of course, the ideal solution would simply be to stop polluting rivers…
Now the downsides : Most of plastic bits in the ocean are small, very small. Some have turned into microplastics that are almost impossible to collect. Besides, the net can collect floating garbages, but what about that plastic bag (and its fellow beings) we found on the seafloor of the Mariana Trench recently ?
This initiative really could work though. It really could remove the plastics that are poisoning the oceans. But it still lacks fundings to scale up to a significant level. Wanna give a help ? Follow this link or visit their shop.
