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https://www.abc.net.au/news/science/2023-03-17/ocean-cleanup-plastic-pollution-great-pacific-garbage-patch/102075810>
'Remember The Ocean Cleanup? It was the ambitious plan hatched by a young Dutch
entrepreneur to "rid the world's oceans of plastic".
If not, here's a quick refresher:
In 2013, 18-year-old Boyan Slat dropped out of an aerospace engineering degree
after a TEDx talk he presented the previous year went viral.
In his talk, Mr Slat laid out his belief that a well-designed, floating system
of nets could clean up the Great Pacific Garbage Patch — a concentrated gyre of
plastic in the Pacific Ocean — "within five years".
Riding the huge wave of publicity after his presentation made its way to
YouTube, Mr Slat launched a crowdfunding campaign, then a feasibility study,
and eventually began working on prototypes for a system to remove from the
world's oceans "90 per cent of floating plastic by 2040".
While few could question the principle, or Mr Slat's belief in the project,
many questioned its feasibility.
In the years since The Ocean Cleanup was launched, designs have been tested,
failed, refined, and tested again.
Mr Slat has jokingly referred to the failures as "unscheduled learning
opportunities".
In the meantime, the plastic problem in the world's oceans has grown much
worse.
So it's worth checking back in on The Ocean Cleanup, and whether Mr Slat's
dream is any closer to becoming reality.'
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
