Posted on 09/17/2021 10:18:49 AM PDT by texas booster
Docked at a Canadian port, crew members returned from a test run of the Ocean Cleanup’s system to rid the Pacific of plastic trash were thrilled by the meager results — even as marine scientists and other ocean experts doubted the effort could succeed.
The non-profit, launched in 2013 amid buoyant media coverage, hopes to clear 90% of floating plastic from the world’s oceans by 2040. But the group’s own best-case scenario — still likely years away — envisions removing 20,000 tonnes a year from the North Pacific, a small fraction of the roughly 11 million tonnes of plastic flowing annually into the oceans.
During 120 hours of deployment last month, System 002 — or “Jenny” as the crew nicknamed it — scooped up 8.2 tonnes of plastic, or less than a garbage truck’s standard haul. The Ocean Cleanup spokesperson Joost Dubois described the amount as “on the high end of our estimates” and emphasized that it was still just in the test phase.
“I think they’re coming from a good place of wanting to help the ocean, but by far the best way to help the ocean is to prevent plastic from getting in the ocean in the first place,” said Miriam Goldstein, director of ocean policy at the Center for American Progress think tank.
(Excerpt) Read more at gcaptain.com ...
“Jenny has outperformed everything we’ve done so far,” Dubois said of the recent six-week trials, during which the system picked up plastics small as 1 centimeter in diameter.
The Ocean Cleanup hopes eventually to deploy 10 to 15 expanded-range Jennys — powered by 20 to 30 ships — to operate round the clock 365 days a year at the garbage patch. At that scale, organizers say, the effort could recover between 15,000 and 20,000 tonnes of plastic a year, though it would cost hundreds of millions of dollars.
The group regrets its reliance on ships that release climate-warming greenhouse emissions. The Ocean Cleanup is purchasing carbon credits to offset the heavy fuel use and noted that Maersk is experimenting with less-polluting biofuels. “Preferably we would have done something without any carbon footprint,” Dubois said.
Maersk told Reuters that, because of the patch’s harsh and remote location, large vessels were needed to assist Jenny’s operations.
Net results is that it took several days to collect the amount that would fill a garbage truck.
When paid by the hour, and with someone else is paying for your expenses, it’s a pretty good life time job at sea.
They show a floating island of debris whenever they talk about this- you would think it was a land mass big enough to see from space.
In reality you could probably motor right through that area and never see one bit of garbage.
Although it does contain garbage
I have even seen the island with a confused looking polar bear on it
Maybe they should just focus on something like cleaning up the Ganges. That would change the life of millions of Indians.
you’ve seen an island of garbage big enough to support the weight of a 600 to 1000 pound polar bear?
150 pounds of plastic per hour, using two ships and a 500 foot long net. That’s slower than two people on a beach.
Laughable.
good idea- that is like an open-air sewer from what I hear
I misread, it’s a 1500 foot net.
While the project is laudable, it’s like trying to “fix” “minority student education” in college, which is long after the “minority student education” problem occurs and becomes ingrained.
Improving “minority student education” requires programs in schools in grades kindergarten through 12th grade, and without them the “problem students” will keep (a) missing out on college (if they want it) or arriving in college unqualified and unprepared for it.
90% of the plastic in the oceans comes into the oceans by way of 10 river systems, in Asia, India-Pakistan and Africa (NOT western Europe or North America). That 90% of the plastic-in-the-ocean is due to waste and recycle management programs that are non-existent in places along those 10 river systems or are grossly inadequate. Unless THAT issue is solved, there will never be any end to the millions of tons of plastics in the oceans.
Some have proposed some sort of international system of fining the nations who are contributing most to the problem. Adding to their financial needs is not a solution. Getting them to prioritize investment in waste and recycling management infrastructure is the solution. How to achieve THAT is the question.
90% of floating plastic from the world’s oceans comes from Asian countries.
If it is plastic from China, leave it alone and it will deteriorate in about 5 years.
I have all kinds of things breaking up and falling apart — made of plastic, made in China.
Burning thousands of gallons of diesel.
Pacific Ocean garbage mostly (about 90%) originates in China with open garbage sites bordering rivers and the ocean.
Atlantic garbage come almost exclusively from West Coast African countries.
Note that no attempt by these “well-meaning” enviro-wackos attempts to stop it at the sources.
These are the same sorts of people, if not the exact same people, that want to suck carbon and CO2 out of the atmosphere because global warming.
Bas Ackward approach. If you really want to make a difference, deal with the countries using the oceans as a dump!
That’s because the floating mass of plastic isn’t real. The images often seen are pictures after tsunami in Japan and often photo shopped. And it’s not just floating under the surface or because it’s clear plastic; it simply is a figment of the internet and brain addled fear mongering.
That’s because the floating mass of plastic isn’t real.
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So you are saying all the tons and tons of garbage from uncountable open Chinese dump sites along rivers banks and Pacific Ocean beaches are also fake? Or are you a paid Chinese influencer (waumao)?
Wuli’s post hits the problem exactly.
Ocean Clean even admits that the best way to clean this up is prevention. Once it is in the ocean it is a broad problem to resolve.
I am glad that they tried the net solution, but if you look at the picture at the top of the article what you see is the flotsam from fishing fleets - because what they leave behind is big enough to be seen.
It is kind of like calling part of outer space “crowded”, such as various satellite orbits. If you visited that orbit it is almost all vacuum.
Bingo!
Clean up the Ganges, a couple of Chinese rivers, the Mekong and a few rivers in Africa and pollution drops immensely.
I agree, and this effort shows that the “Great Pacific Garbage Patch” is a PR stunt with extra photoshopping.
Ocean pollution is real but it is not as reported, and the solution is not to steal from the ones you make feel guilty.
For their own enrichment.
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