Our environment is paying the price of human multiplication and development process. The ocean is one phenomenon. There is a Great Pacific Garbage Patch also known as Pacific Trash Vortex is floating between Hawaii and California. The garbage is the gyre of marine debris in the central north Pacific ocean. Plastic usage has caused this highly toxic garbage life in the ocean. This patch is destroying the marine life. The ocean cleanup is aware of this situation and invented a system to get rid of 50 % of the Pacific garbage patch.
The cleaning up of the Pacific Trash Vortex using conventional methods will take thousand years. The passive system by oceancleanup.com is estimated to remove half of the garbage patch in 5 years.
How does the system work?
Create a coastline-
The system consists of a 600-meter long floater that will sit at the surface of the water and tap a 3-meter deep skirt attached below. The floater is buoyancy and prevents plastic from flowing over it. The skirt stops the debris from escaping underneath.
The system uses current, waves and wind to float faster than plastic and carry the plastic. Wind and wave propel only the system as the floater sits above the water surface. The plastic is beneath the water surface making it easier to capture the plastic.
Here is how it exactly works.
The Impact-
The floating system is designed to capture plastics ranging from small pieces, i.e., a millimeter in size to large debris, including the discarded fishing net. A full-scale cleanup system will roll out a fleet 60 times approximately, which will bring down the great garbage patch to 50 % in 5 years. The ocean cleanup project will be able to remove 90% of the plastic ocean by 2040.
The system at sea-
The garbage patch is not traversed by heavily trafficked ships. So there are hardly any chances of any vessel coming across the ocean cleanup system. On an average, only five vessels are found in the area twice the size of Texas.
In case any equipment passes through the vessel, it implanted with lanterns, radar reflectors, navigation signals, GPS and anti-collision beacons. The AIS will continually broadcast the location of the vessels. The US coast guard will be guarding the area as special operations zone and will issue a notice to mariners the presence of the system.
The system does not have any hazardous effects on our environment as tested by Environmental Impact Assessment. The system is efficient enough to withstand any forces of the ocean.
Plastic is a curse on our environment. We need to curb the plastic usage. Sadly in the real world, we do not have Captain Planet to save our planet Earth. Every human being can be Captain Planet in his own way and protect the earth.
