The deteriorating environment is an increasingly urgent, global crisis that by now everyone is aware of, yet an aspect that often goes overlooked is the effect on our oceans and how we can solve this largely unnoticed issue.
Indeed, plastic pollution is one of the largest threats facing our ocean on multiple levels; large plastics can trap and choke wildlife, whilst microplastics ingested by prey species are passed up the food chain causing oxidative damage, inflammation and ultimately death. In fact, microplastics could even have made their way onto your plate due to this same reason, putting your own health at risk. It is thus no surprise that a solution is required, and fast, to remove the plastic from the oceans that we all share.
Thankfully, a large breakthrough has already been made by The Ocean Cleanup, a non-profit organization that engineers technology to specifically prevent plastic pollution. The organization was started by Boyan Slat in 2013 - a year prior he had suggested a passive plastic catchment system in a TED talk, which Ocean Cleanup aimed to realize. The model went through development from 2014-2017, until in 2018 it was deployed for use at the Great Pacific Garbage Patch (GPGP).
The GPGP is a collection of marine debris in the North Pacific Ocean, which spans 1.6 million square kilometers in surface area - 1 million seabirds and 100,000 marine mammals are either harmed or killed each year as a result. Consequently, it is vital that the accruing mass of plastics be removed for the protection of species before they become endangered.
The Ocean Cleanup’s model, System 001 (nicknamed, “Wilson”), launched to tackle this and managed to collect 2000 kg of plastic from the GPGP during its expedition from November to December. Many flaws were seen in the deployment of System 001 - such as failure to retain plastics - and so in 2021 System 002 was launched. The improved model collected 28,000 kg; an astounding improvement from the original. As of July 25th 2022, The Ocean Cleanup has announced the first 100,000 kg of plastics have been removed.
Organizations such as Ocean Cleanup are the reason to be hopeful for the future of our environment, as they continue to research technology to prevent plastic pollution and save our marine life. By raising awareness to these niche issues of our climate crisis, perhaps more people like Boyan Slat can rise to the sisyphean task of fixing our environment.
