Author: Stephen Johnson / Source: Big Think
Swirling in the Pacific Ocean is a loose patch of garbage that measures 1 million square miles—about three times the size of France. That’s just one of five major garbage patches that plague the world’s oceans and marine life.
For years, The Ocean Cleanup foundation has been planning a first-of-its-kind project to remove massive amounts of garbage, most of which is plastic, from the Pacific Ocean.
On September 8, the foundation plans to launch a full-scale beta test, dubbed System 001, of its bold, $24.6-million solution: create a massive floating barrier to corral the plastic, remove it from the ocean and turn it into merchandise.
The upcoming launch is set to be the first of approximately 60 similar systems.
The Ocean Cleanup claims a “full-scale deployment” of these systems could clean up half of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch over 5 years, and that it could reduce the patch by 90 percent by 2040.
The foundation explain how its beta system works in a video.
Some have expressed skepticism about the project. One of the loudest critics has been David Shiffman, a shark conservation biologist and writer for the blog Southern Fried Science.
In a blog post titled ‘I asked 15 ocean…
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