How many times have you read something about the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, that huge swirling mass of plastic trash that’s currently floating in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, and thought to yourself, “why hasn’t someone tried to clean it up?” Well, it’s just not that easy. It’s a huge, expensive task and extreme care must be taken to avoid harming wildlife in the process.
But, the good news is, an effort to retrieve and recycle the Texas-sized mass of junk will begin in earnest next month.
Charles Moore, an oceanographer who discovered the garbage patch in 1997, explains part of the challenge: the nearly microscopic size of much of the plastic rubbish makes it difficult to collect. However, that’s not stopping an expedition of scientists and conservationists from trying to collect the larger pieces.
From the Times Online:
Because of their tiny size and the scale of the problem, he believes that nothing can be solved at sea. “Trying to clean up the Pacific gyre would bankrupt any country and kill wildlife in the nets as it went.”
In June the 151ft brigantine Kaisei (Japanese for Planet Ocean) will unfurl its sails in San Francisco to try to prove Mr Moore wrong. Project Kaisei’s flagship will be joined by a decommissioned fishing trawler armed with specialised nets.
“The trick is collecting the plastic while minimising the catch of sea life. We can’t catch the tiny pieces. But the net benefit of getting the rest out is very likely to be better than leaving it in,” says Doug Woodring, the leader of the project.
With a crew of 30, the expedition, supported by the Scripps Institution of Oceanography and Brita, the water company, will use unmanned aircraft and robotic surface explorers to map the extent and depth of the plastic continent while collecting 40 tonnes of the refuse for trial recycling.
There’s simply no quick and easy fix for this tremendous problem, but Project Kaisei is a great start. Perhaps the next step should be putting a stop to the practices that caused this patch to accumulate in the first place.
Link [Times Online]
