Boyan Slat and the Ocean Cleanup project to eliminate 90 percent of plastic in the oceans

The goal is probably unrealistic and overly optimistic. But Boyan's gamble and story are very interesting.

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OCEAN CLEANUP
boyan Slat, the Dutch environmentalist known throughout the world for his work in the fight against marine pollution, especially that caused by plastic, has a dream: to remove, with his organization The Ocean Cleanup, 90% of the plastic present in the oceans by 2040. A dream goal or achievable? The certain thing is that boyan Slat started his gamble when he was just 16 years old.

Boyan Slat was just 18 when his life changed thanks to an invention that could mark a turning point in the history of modern environmentalism: a machine to clean the oceans of plastic . Five years have passed since Slat presented his project at the TEDx Conference, and today his organization, Ocean Cleanup , has 75 employees including engineers, oceanographers, and analysts, while the Dutch boy's invention was listed in 2017 by Time magazine as one of the most important inventions of the year.

Ocean cleanup

The beginnings of this extraordinary adventure date back to Slat's first dives in the Azores, where he saw more plastic bags than fish. So he got to work, and like a good engineer, he designed a gigantic barrier that uses currents to intercept objects and plastic fragments. Once the design phase was complete, he presented his idea and asked for funding, which even came from a group of Dutch billionaires.

The solution devised by Boyan promises to remove 7.250.000 tons of plastic waste from the oceans. The device consists of a long net connected to several floating platforms (each one to two kilometers long) to convey the plastic to collection points. To realize this project, it was necessary to recruit people willing to collaborate: engineers, oceanographers, experts in maritime law, and other disciplines. This was all made possible through a crowdfunding project (raising funds from private entities and individuals). This allowed him to raise more than two million dollars , money that allowed him to found a nonprofit organization, The Ocean Cleanup.

How it works

Specifically, Slat's system uses ocean currents to channel plastic into the mechanism. At the same time, fish aren't trapped in the mesh. Once the plastic reaches the circuit, it's cleaned of plankton and microorganisms and can be recycled.

The system was tested for about two years in the waters surrounding Tsushima Island, Japan, where vortices deposit approximately 30 cubic meters of waste each year. Then, through an aerial expedition, The Ocean Cleanup mapped the oceans to understand the true extent of plastic pollution.

The draft Boyan Slat is making an extraordinary leap forward with a paradigm shift: no longer collecting the plastic in the sea, a complex, tiring and expensive operation, also due to the continuous currents, but directly at the source, before it reaches the ocean waters. That is, at the mouth of the rivers. 90 percent of the plastic we find in the sea comes from rivers and reefs Ocean Cleanup They serve to stop plastic before it reaches the ocean. They have been built in the United States, Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Guatemala, with very promising results.

Criticisms of the project

Some experts and environmentalists have raised doubts about whether The Ocean Cleanup can actually significantly reduce the amount of plastic in the oceans. The main concerns are the relatively small amount of plastic recovered compared to the actual quantities and the possibility of recycling this material efficiently.

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