Picking Up the Trash
Picture a floating ‘Roomba’, only instead of the robot moving randomly around the room, the room moves under the robot. That, essentially, is what is going on with ‘Ocean Cleanup System 001B’, “the first cleanup systems that can be trialed and utilized in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch – the world’s largest accumulation zone of ocean plastics – situated halfway between Hawaii and California.”
Floating debris, most of which is some form of plastic, is being collected in a large floating boom. The collection is then periodically removed by a surface vessel and taken to a proper disposal facility.
For safety sake, the latest generation of these floating apparatus are equipped with both AIS and Radar reflector’s, and their location is monitored; things that the random floating container doesn’t offer.
If the concept proves itself worthy, I’m sure that we will see more of these in other areas where the ocean current is predictable, such as the Gulf of Mexico.
Given the scale of things, it’s difficult to visualize the dent that this is making in the overall problem, but I wish them well.
/fl