Story 2015-06-05 AF5Z Non-profit plan to deploy ocean barriers to collect plastic debris

Non-profit plan to deploy ocean barriers to collect plastic debris

by
in environment on (#AF5Z)
Call it a Roomba for the ocean. The non-profit Ocean Cleanup has come up with an invention to help the Pacific Ocean rid itself of some of the 8 million tons of plastics. The plan is to set up enormous floating barriers in rotating tidal locations around the globe (called gyres), and let the plastics naturally flow into the "corrals," reports Gizmodo.

Unlike nets which entangle and can kill sea life, these enormous, V-shaped buffers anchored by floating booms are no threat to ocean creatures.The current will flow beneath the booms, where animals will be carried through safely. The floating plastic will be concentrated at the surface for easy removal. The system will be deployed next year. The first massive plastics-catching barrier - 6,500 feet wide - will be placed near the Japanese island of Tsushima between Japan and South Korea. If the pilot system works, more of the floats will be placed elsewhere in the Pacific.
Reply 6 comments

Clever idea (Score: 2, Funny)

by prospectacle@pipedot.org on 2015-06-05 12:57 (#AG1T)

Now we just need one for air pollution and the party can continue unabated.

Recycled method (Score: 1)

by reziac@pipedot.org on 2015-06-05 15:32 (#AGDD)

I thought something like this had already been deployed, decades ago -- what happened to that?

Re: Recycled method (Score: 0)

by Anonymous Coward on 2015-06-06 03:46 (#AHDQ)

I blame the Ferengi. Those little bastards steal anything not nailed down

Response to critics (Score: 2, Interesting)

by evilviper@pipedot.org on 2015-06-06 09:15 (#AHSG)

The founder & president of The Ocean Cleanup provided an item-by-item list, responding to all the criticism of the idea:

http://www.theoceancleanup.com/blog/show/item/responding-to-critics.html