World Ocean's Day is about more than expressing our love for the big blue, but also a reminder how important it is to keep it clean!
The world's oceans are homes to so many living beings and provide such endless beauty for all. Sadly, through careless efforts of mankind, the ocean has taken quite a beating and remains extremely polluted, killing not only the ocean itself, but leaving all the creatures who inhabit the sea without food, a home or even life.
However, there is hope! 22-year-old Dutch entrepreneur and inventor,
Boyan Slat, has been working on the technology to help clean up our waters. He is the founder and CEO of The Ocean Cleanup, which is set to deploy effective 2020.
Instead of going after the plastic using boats and nets, The Ocean Cleanup envisions a network of long floating barriers, which would allow the ocean currents to passively gather the plastic. Once the plastic is concentrated at a central point, it can be collected for recycling.
1) The Ocean Cleanup’s passive technology enables the ocean to clean itself. A V-shaped array of floating barriers, attached to the seabed, will catch the plastic deposited there by the natural ocean currents.
2) Underneath the booms, a submerged non-permeable screen will help concentrate plastic which is suspended under the surface. Most of the current will pass under these screens, carrying away all (neutrally buoyant) sea life and preventing by-catch. The lighter-than-water plastic will collect in front of the floating barriers.
3) The scalable array of floating barriers will funnel plastics towards the center of the structure, enabling a central platform to efficiently extract and store the concentrated plastic until it is transported to land for recycling. Intended for large-scale deployment, it can harvest plastic from millions of square kilometers.
For more information on The Ocean Cleanup and how you can get involved, visit http://www.theoceancleanup.com/.
Please do not pollute our oceans. Always recycle and practice loving, protecting and respecting out oceans!
