An Innovative Method For Cleaning The Polluted Ocean Found

Ocean pollution

From oil and debris to sewage and toxic chemicals – our seas have it all

Oceans cover 71 % of our planet’s surface and contain an estimated 1.5 million species, but that hasn’t stopped humanity using the sea as a giant, watery rubbish bin. We’re familiar with terrible images of seabirds whose feathers are clogged with viscous black oil. But catastrophic spills from tankers account for just a portion of oil pollution in the sea; street runoff, vehicle exhausts, and industrial waste are all chronic contributors to the problem. Indeed, almost all marine pollution stems from activities on land. Runoff from farms introduces pesticides and insecticides into the aquatic food chain, as well as an overabundance of nutrients in the form of fertilizer. This causes populations of algae to spike, draining the surrounding waters of oxygen and choking other marine life. Finally, human-made rubbish is everywhere throughout the world’s oceans, where it is corralled by currents into vast swirling ‘garbage patches’. Many items, including fishing gear, glass, metal, paper, cloth, and rubber, can take years, decades, or even centuries to decay in some cases.

The worst offenders – plastics – actually persist forever, but are broken down under the Sun’s UV rays into ever smaller pieces. The ultimate soup of ‘microplastics’ – invisible to the naked eye – poses a threat to wildlife that ingests it, and to the entire food chain due to the leaching of harmful chemicals. There are no easy solutions, but a burst of new technologies may start to turn the tide. In just 18 months, ‘Mr. Trash Wheel’, a filtering water wheel with its own Twitter account, has eliminated over 400 tons of rubbish from Inner Harbor in Baltimore, US. Proposals for open ocean filtration systems include a solar-powered ‘vacuum boat’ called SeaVax, that its inventors claim will suck up 22,000 tons of garbage each year.

The most common items deteriorated up on beaches include plastic bottles and cutlery, and coffee cup lids. The good news is that means we can help by making simple adjustments to our lifestyles, like carrying reusable water bottles and utensils.

Marine debris timeline

How long does common rubbish persist in the ocean?

Cigarette butt

The most common item found on beach clean-ups, making up 25 percent of all

collected debris. They contain a synthetic fiber that takes years to break down.

 

Disposable Nappy

Nappies are made from multiple layers, including several long-lived plastics like

polyethylene and polyester. They easily outlive the child that wears them.

 

Aluminum can

An aluminum oxide coating makes aluminum cans very resistant to

dissolving in seawater. Frustratingly, they are one of the mildest items to recycle.

Plastic drink bottle

Plastics degrade into tiny pieces, but they never fully disappear. Americans

alone throw away over 35 billion plastic water bottles per year.

The Great Pacific garbage patch

How huge swaths of spinning debris have

gathered between California and Japan

The Ocean Cleanup Array

The brainchild of 21-year-old Dutch inventor Boyan Slat, the Ocean Cleanup Array harnesses ocean currents to sweep floating plastic debris into a massive 100-kilometer long collector for recycling. The innovative system comprises a pair of floating barriers, held in a V-shape, that skim tiny pieces of plastic flotsam from the approaching currents while allowing the sea life to pass safely underneath it.

The crowdfunded project – now at the model testing stage – has the potential to eliminate over 7 million tons of microplastics from the world’s oceans, and its creators insist that a single Ocean Cleanup Array could bisect the size of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch in just ten years.

Booms

Floating storm-resistant barriers, stretching out over 100 kilometers are moored to the seabed.

The motion of the ocean

Ocean currents carry plastic into the barriers, and debris begins to build up behind them.

Natural funnel

The barriers are placed in a V-shape around a central platform, causing the trapped debris to gradually drift inwards.

Central platform

This extracts the concentrated mass of microplastics and stores it for transport to recycling facilities.