The answer to our prayers might have finally arrived! A 2,000-foot pipeline will travel along the Pacific ocean to collect all the plastics we’ve managed to dump there. Nicknamed Wilson, the Ocean Cleanup foundation launched the first ocean cleanup system out of San Francisco to take on the challenge, “Great Pacific Garbage Patch.” It’s the largest of five ocean trash piles on Earth between San Francisco and Hawaii which severely affects the health of the ocean. The pipe is scheduled to arrive at its destination on Tuesday and begin the cleanup process soon after.The pipe itself is shaped almost like a giant U, with a 3-meter deep net underneath it to grab floating plastic under the water’s surface. A boat will act as a garbage truck for the ocean and return to the spot every couple of months or so to eliminate the debris and bring it back to shore. Sea creatures will remain safe because the “net” itself is open enough for them to swim away. Once it arrives back on land, the goal is to recycle and create new products from the plastic.
There’s almost 150 million TONS of plastic in the world’s oceans. Also within the next decade, that number is expected to triple. The way we’re disposing of trash today will cause real implications for the safety of ocean life and industries such as fishing, climate change, and tourism. But why should you care? It affects us, humans, too! Plastic can easily enter our food through the animals we eat, consuming plastic themselves. Overall, this project is one to definitely keep an eye on. This outcome of this could positively affect our way/quality of life forever!
Garcia, A. (2018, October 15). Floating pipe set to start massive ocean cleanup process. Retrieved from https://www.cnn.com/2018/10/15/tech/ocean-cleanup-project/index.html
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