In the article, “Boy Genius Boyan Slat’s Giant Ocean Cleanup Machine Is Real”, Schiller (2017) reported that the oceanographer Charles Moore observed an increase in the amount of plastic trash found in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. Over time, the accumulation of plastic trash created a walkable platform. In 2011, the Ocean Cleanup machine (boom) was first introduced through a TED Talk by Slat and the major cleanup project began in 2018. Although the project was funded by individuals and companies, it received many criticisms for wasteful resources and setting an unattainable goal. However, Slat anticipates that through technological advancement, the project will be cost effective and efficient. The booms are scalable and reliable modular system and would be launched in 2018 after the testing of the prototype. Slat has done thorough research to better understand the project. With the help of the Pacific’s currents, the floating device would gather tons of trash.
While the Ocean Cleanup project looks like it will have a promising outcome, however, I believe that there are some factors and conditions that are overlooked in their research.
Firstly, the workability and efficiency of the boom is questionable. Base on the article, the boom is designed to work efficiently, however, based on An Ambitious Project to Clean Up the Ocean’s Garbage Patch Isn’t Working, (Thompson, 10 Dec 2018), the boom does not sustain trapped rubbish and doesn’t collect as many plastics as per initial design. This may be because the boom doesn’t get pushed faster by the water and wind, therefore restricting the amount of rubbish collected. As such, the article should mention the design issues and measures taken to ensure that such issues.
Secondly, the effects it has on marine life was not clearly stated in the article. Based on the article “6 Reasons That Floating Ocean Plastic Cleanup Gizmo is a Horrible Idea” by Clarke, 2015, the boom will have a biocide coating on the surface to reduce the rate at which it is colonised by the marine life. With the coating, it poses risk and threat on microorganisms and on marine life as this biocide coating is meant to kill them with contact with the coating. The boom also poses a physical threat. With the boom collecting floating plastic, some of the marine life might get trapped together with the plastic items, it might result in the marine life eating the plastic and eventually die due to starvation and suffocation. All in all, when the project is at its peak, more booms will be released, which will result in a higher threat to marine life and the microorganisms.
Lastly, most of the plastic that are retrived are not recyclable. The article stated that plastic collected from the ocean will be recycled into items such as car bumper, chairs, eye wears, etc. However, according to an article by Clark (2015), it states “Plastics’ polymer chains break down too readily when melted, meaning that your water bottle becomes a lower-grade plastic product…” which is not wanted in the industry. Furthermore, those plastic items polymer chains have exposed to the ultraviolet rays from the sun and are attacked by the dissolved salt, therefore their quality compared to the ones in-land are lower. Moreover, most of the plastic items that are floating around are single used items such as water bottles which are not usually recycled or reused because the supply of the “best” type of plastic is higher than the demand. Thus, it is not very feasible to recycle collected plastic materials.
In conclusion, though the project shows a promising outcome, however, there are limitations and aftermath that were overlooked. Therefore, the company should do more thorough research and detailed work to achieve better results.
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References
Chris, C. (2015). 6 Reasons That Floating Ocean Plastic Cleanup Gizmo is a Horrible Idea. KCET. Retrieved, January 31, 2019 from
Avery, T. (2018, December 10). An Ambitious Project to Clean Up the Ocean’s Garbage Patch Isn’t Working. Retrieved, 11 February, 2019 from https://www.popularmechanics.com/science/environment/a25442808/ocean-cleanup-not-working/
Nicole Vale 