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A project to remove 88,000 tons of plastic from the Pacific has begun


Spartan

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An ambitious project to clean up the 88,000 tons of plastic floating in the "Great Pacific Garbage Patch" has begun. On Sunday, the Ocean Cleanup Project started towing its "Ocean Cleanup System 001" from San Francisco to a trial site some 240 nautical miles (260 miles) away. Once it arrives, the wind and waves will push System 001 into a U-shape and it will slowly drift along on its own. A 10-foot long skirt hanging below will collect pieces of plastic as small as a millimeter in size, and smaller boats will later scoop them up and take them to shore for recycling.

During the two week trial, the system will be "extensively monitored" to make sure it does the job while not harming plankton and other critical marine life. "We want to catch plastic, not fish," Joost Dubois from The Ocean Cleanup told CNN. "We're trying to solve an environmental problem so we need to make sure we don't create a bigger problem in its place."

 

After the trial ends, the boom will be towed another 900 nautical miles to begin its main mission, cleaning the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. Crews will stay at the patch for six months to continue monitoring, but hope that an autonomous vehicle can do the job after they leave.

There are an estimated 165 million tons of plastic in the ocean today, but there could be more plastic than fish in the ocean by 2050 (up to a billion tons). The Ocean Cleanup Project hopes that System 001 can extract about 55 tons of plastic from the ocean per year. That wouldn't make too big a dent in the 88,000 ton patch, let alone the 9 million tons that enter the ocean each year. However, the group hopes to eventually deploy 60 systems that would extract 50 percent of the Pacific garbage patch plastic every five years.

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4 minutes ago, Hitman said:

pilot project ga ..Ganga nadi lo try cheyyochuga... @~`

 

3 minutes ago, psycopk said:

ee project start avalani leda?? poi poi aa country tho start chesav??

that aside this works in water bodies there the ship traffic can navigate around this posing no osbtruction 

Public broadcast channel lo choopinchaadu idhi , noble initiative 

 

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idi just for test matrame..once monitored and tewaks are done..they are planning to setup 60 such cleaners and estimating 9million tonnes to be removed form the ocean per year..

but currently the waste stands at 165 million...

so unless we stop putting plastic in ocean..it will be never ending cycle..

target with this is to acheive atleast 50% reduction YoY

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7 minutes ago, Spartan said:

An ambitious project to clean up the 88,000 tons of plastic floating in the "Great Pacific Garbage Patch" has begun. On Sunday, the Ocean Cleanup Project started towing its "Ocean Cleanup System 001" from San Francisco to a trial site some 240 nautical miles (260 miles) away. Once it arrives, the wind and waves will push System 001 into a U-shape and it will slowly drift along on its own. A 10-foot long skirt hanging below will collect pieces of plastic as small as a millimeter in size, and smaller boats will later scoop them up and take them to shore for recycling.

During the two week trial, the system will be "extensively monitored" to make sure it does the job while not harming plankton and other critical marine life. "We want to catch plastic, not fish," Joost Dubois from The Ocean Cleanup told CNN. "We're trying to solve an environmental problem so we need to make sure we don't create a bigger problem in its place."

 

After the trial ends, the boom will be towed another 900 nautical miles to begin its main mission, cleaning the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. Crews will stay at the patch for six months to continue monitoring, but hope that an autonomous vehicle can do the job after they leave.

There are an estimated 165 million tons of plastic in the ocean today, but there could be more plastic than fish in the ocean by 2050 (up to a billion tons). The Ocean Cleanup Project hopes that System 001 can extract about 55 tons of plastic from the ocean per year. That wouldn't make too big a dent in the 88,000 ton patch, let alone the 9 million tons that enter the ocean each year. However, the group hopes to eventually deploy 60 systems that would extract 50 percent of the Pacific garbage patch plastic every five years.

how did they came up with that 88k number man , before the project began?

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The system consists of a 600-meter-long floater that sits at the surface of the water and a tapered 3-meter-deep skirt attached below. The floater provides buoyancy to the system and prevents plastic from flowing over it, while the skirt stops debris from escaping underneath.

floater-screen.gif

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Take advantage of natural oceanic forces

Both the plastic and system are being carried by the current. However, wind and waves propel only the system, as the floater sits just above the water surface, while the plastic is primarily just beneath it. The system thus moves faster than the plastic, allowing the plastic to be captured.

 

screen-gif.gif

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10 minutes ago, psycopk said:

ee project start avalani leda?? poi poi aa country tho start chesav??

Emi fikar cheyak kaka...repo mapo Amaravati mega city ayi Krishna river ni kuda elago motham pollute chesestadi...apudu is technology ni a lathkoor state lo use chesdam le

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