The Ocean Cleanup plastic harvesting device has proven to be a success and made history as loads of litter has already been collected from the Great Pacific Garbage Patch and recycled.
The Pacific Ocean – A year after the Ocean Cleanup was preparing for its first-ever launch. It has now made history for collecting and recycling the first of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch pollution.
The Ocean Cleanup initiative that was created by a then Dutch teenager, Boyan Slat, to collect plastic from the surface of the ocean without harming marine life.
The garbage patch was discovered in the ’90s and is a massive island drifting halfway between California and Hawaii. It consists of over a trillion pieces of debris that have collected there because of the swirling vortex of current. It is roughly twice the size of Texas.
The vessel, named System 001 (or Wilson to some), set out in September last year to start tests to see if it was even possible to combat the Pacific garbage patch. Now the team is excited to announce that their mission is proving a success.
They have started collecting litter, plastic, and fishing lines (just to name a few), which will be taken back to land for recycling.
Boyan dropped out of college and crowdfunded millions to make this a reality. Now it is! All it took was one person to come up with a concept, innovate a way to make it happen and then, slowly start changing the world!
“After beginning this journey seven years ago, this first year of testing in the unforgivable environment of the high seas strongly indicates that our vision is attainable and that the beginning of our mission to rid the ocean of plastic garbage, which has accumulated for decades, is within our sights,”
“Our team has remained steadfast in its determination to solve immense technical challenges to arrive at this point. Though we still have much more work to do, I am eternally grateful for the team’s commitment and dedication to the mission and look forward to continuing to the next phase of development.” – Boyan Slat
We are left feeling hopeful for the future. While this progress may be early, it is progress none-the-less, and we cannot wait to see what the next year has in store.