“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.
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.
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.
Sounds like a great opportunity for some enterprising individual to come up with an ocean-going Roomba, solar powered. Just let about 100 of these things loose and call me when they’re done.
This is the picture that accompanies the article. There is little evidence of them picking up tons of trash except barrels.
It could certainly that the picture is stock, and was chosen since it has a picture of a "Maersk" container on it. All of these plastic items look like what would be used on any fishing vessel.