“Ocean Cleanup” System
On September 8, 2018, the Ocean Cleanup Project began near Alameda, California. The ocean area,
called the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, covers 1.6 million square kilometers and is filled with 1.8
trillion pieces of waste. The cleanup system is a line of tubes called booms which are linked together.
The line is 600 meters long, floats on the water and is moved by winds and ocean waves which make
the booms form the shape of the letter U. This shape helps to catch the waste as it move from place to
place. A 3-meter long net under each boom lets only micro-sized pieces of plastic escap
Ocean Cleanup plans to use 60 systems. To make sure that ships and boats won’t run into the systems,
solar-powered lights and satellites track the booms’ locations. They also help boats to locate the
systems so that they can take the waste to recycling factories. The plan is to remove 50 percent of the
pieces of plastic within 5 years and 90 percent by 2040.
However, not everyone thinks Ocean Cleanup is a good idea. First, having so much waste in one place
increases the danger of killing sea-animals which would come to eat it. Second, the booms’ nets may
trap small sea creatures, whose weight will make the system heavier and less efficient. Third, Ocean
Cleanup can only collect pieces of plastic bigger than 0.5 centimeters which are only 40 percent of the
plastic in the ocean. Last, most of the world’s 5 trillion pieces of ocean plastic sink lower than 3 meters
and escape the nets.
This project takes people’s focus and money away from the real problems. The real problems are that
we produce and use too many things made of plastic and that we have to prevent the plastic from
reaching the ocean in the first place!
“Ocean Cleanup” System
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Created on February 25, 2021
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Transcript
“Ocean Cleanup” System
On September 8, 2018, the Ocean Cleanup Project began near Alameda, California. The ocean area, called the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, covers 1.6 million square kilometers and is filled with 1.8 trillion pieces of waste. The cleanup system is a line of tubes called booms which are linked together. The line is 600 meters long, floats on the water and is moved by winds and ocean waves which make the booms form the shape of the letter U. This shape helps to catch the waste as it move from place to place. A 3-meter long net under each boom lets only micro-sized pieces of plastic escap
Ocean Cleanup plans to use 60 systems. To make sure that ships and boats won’t run into the systems, solar-powered lights and satellites track the booms’ locations. They also help boats to locate the systems so that they can take the waste to recycling factories. The plan is to remove 50 percent of the pieces of plastic within 5 years and 90 percent by 2040.
However, not everyone thinks Ocean Cleanup is a good idea. First, having so much waste in one place increases the danger of killing sea-animals which would come to eat it. Second, the booms’ nets may trap small sea creatures, whose weight will make the system heavier and less efficient. Third, Ocean Cleanup can only collect pieces of plastic bigger than 0.5 centimeters which are only 40 percent of the plastic in the ocean. Last, most of the world’s 5 trillion pieces of ocean plastic sink lower than 3 meters and escape the nets.
This project takes people’s focus and money away from the real problems. The real problems are that we produce and use too many things made of plastic and that we have to prevent the plastic from reaching the ocean in the first place!