‘World’s first’ ocean cleaning system set for 2016
The ‘world’s first’ ocean clean-up system will be deployed next year off the coast of Tsushima Island in the Korea Strait.
Boyan Slat, the 20-year old founder and CEO of The Ocean Cleanup has announced that a 2,000-metre floating plastic litter capture system – set to be the ‘longest floating structure ever deployed in the ocean – will be established in the second quarter of 2016 in the waters between Japan and South Korea (subject to feasibility).
According to Slat, approximately one cubic metre of pollution per person is washed up on the shores of Tsushima Island each year, while approximately 140,000 tonnes of plastic is floating in the North Pacific – the majority of which is concentrated close to the surface of the water.
As such, The Ocean Cleanup project aims to set up a series of floating barriers that can collect the greatest mass of oceanic plastic pollution.
System details
The system comprises buoyancy elements with weighted ‘skirts’ – thin, impermeable and flexible sheets that direct the plastics – hanging to a depth of two to three metres. These are positioned in a ‘V’ shape, and angled toward a central platform with the aim of concentrating the plastic in the middle; earlier feasibility studies indicated that 80 per cent of the plastic that encounters the booms will be captured. It will then collect at the moored processing platforms, where ships will pick up the plastic for onward processing. Tsushima Island is said to be evaluating whether the plastic collected could be used as an alternative energy source.
The project is being undertaken by The Ocean Cleanup and the city government of Tsushima and will test:
- the long term durability of the barriers;
- the system's efficiency in real-life conditions;
- operational aspects, such as deployment, collection, maintenance and inspection; and
- the efficacy of waste interception.
‘An essential step’ to cleaning the Great Pacific Garbage Patch
If the Tsushima Island experiment is successful, The Ocean Cleanup aims to install a series of deployments of increasing scale ‘within the next years’, culminating in a 100-kilometre long system between Hawaii and California. It is hoped that this system could help clean up about half of the plastic in the ‘Great Pacific Garbage Patch’.
Slat commented: “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.”
Find out more about Boyan Slat and The Ocean Cleanup in Resource 78.
