The Ocean Cleanup aims to strip 70 million kilos of plastic from the sea in 10 years 2 April 2015 | 24 comments More: Design Slideshows A 100kilometre array of floating barriers designed by a 20yearold inventor aims to clear the oceans of waste plastic, and is one of the projects shortlisted for this year's Designs of the Year award (+ slideshow). Dutch engineering student Boyan Slat created The Ocean Cleanup concept with the aim of clearing the oceans of their plastic gyres – floating islands made of millions of pieces of waste that accumulate where currents converge. Previous 1 2 3 4 56 7 8 9 10 11 Pause Next
Welcome message from author
This document is posted to help you gain knowledge. Please leave a comment to let me know what you think about it! Share it to your friends and learn new things together.
Transcript
-
9/4/2015 TheOceanCleanupaimstostripplasticfromthesea
data:text/htmlcharset=utf8,%3Cheader%20style%3D%22margin%3A%200px%200px%204px%3B%20padding%3A%200px%3B%20border%3A%200px%3B 1/6
TheOceanCleanupaimstostrip70millionkilosofplasticfromtheseain10years
2April2015|24comments
More: Design Slideshows
A100kilometrearrayoffloatingbarriersdesignedbya20yearoldinventoraimstocleartheoceansofwasteplastic,andisoneoftheprojectsshortlistedforthisyear'sDesignsoftheYearaward(+slideshow).
DutchengineeringstudentBoyanSlatcreatedTheOceanCleanupconceptwiththeaimofclearingtheoceansoftheirplasticgyresfloatingislandsmadeofmillionsofpiecesofwastethataccumulatewherecurrentsconverge.
Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Pause Next
-
9/4/2015 TheOceanCleanupaimstostripplasticfromthesea
data:text/htmlcharset=utf8,%3Cheader%20style%3D%22margin%3A%200px%200px%204px%3B%20padding%3A%200px%3B%20border%3A%200px%3B 2/6
Therearecurrentlyfivemajorgyres,containingmillionsofpiecesofplasticpersquarekilometrethatareconstantlymovinginarotatingformation.Thegyrescontributetotheestimated500millionkilosofplasticwastecurrentlyfloatingintheworld'soceans.
Previousproposalsforremovingthiswastehaveinvolvedusingnetsandbasictrawlingoperations,buthavebeenconsideredtooexpensiveandpossiblydamagingtowildlife.
Slat'sproposedsolutioninvolves100kilometresoffloatingfiltersthatstaystatic,ratherthanbeingpulledthroughthewater,andactasabarriertocollectwaste.
-
9/4/2015 TheOceanCleanupaimstostripplasticfromthesea
data:text/htmlcharset=utf8,%3Cheader%20style%3D%22margin%3A%200px%200px%204px%3B%20padding%3A%200px%3B%20border%3A%200px%3B 3/6
"Acleanupofouroceanshasalwaysbeendeemedimpossible,costingbillionsofdollarsandthousandsofyears,"saidastatementfromSlat'sTheOceanCleanuporganisation.
"[Our]solutionisaconcepttopassivelycleantheoceansofplasticinjustseveralyears'time.Theconceptwouldutilisethenaturalcurrentstolettheoceanscleanthemselves,inwhatwouldbecomethelargestcleanupinhistory."
Describedas"thelargeststructureeverdeployedontheoceans",thebarrierswouldbearrangedintwo50kilometrearmsconnectedtoacentralplatform,formingaVshape.
Thesewouldonlyfilterthetopthreemetresofwater,asSlat'sstudiesfoundthatthiswaswherethehighestconcentrationofplasticrubbishcouldbefoundintheworld'soceans.Themaincurrentsrundeeperthanthis,reducingthepotentialfor"bycatch"fishandotheroceanlifethatgetcaughtanddie.
-
9/4/2015 TheOceanCleanupaimstostripplasticfromthesea
data:text/htmlcharset=utf8,%3Cheader%20style%3D%22margin%3A%200px%200px%204px%3B%20padding%3A%200px%3B%20border%3A%200px%3B 4/6
Asplasticiscaughtinthearray,themotionofthewaterwouldpushitnaturallytowardstheplatform,wherethedebriscanbeextractedandsorted.
"TheOceanCleanupestimatesthecostofremovingonekilogramofplasticat4.53,"saidtheorganisation."Thisis33timescheaperthanconventionaloceancleanupmethods,whilealsobeinganestimated7,900timesfaster."
Relatedstory:SafetyNetbyDanWatson
"AlmosthalfoftheplasticwithintheNorthPacificGyreabout70,000,000kilogramscanberemovedwithin10years,"itadded.
-
9/4/2015 TheOceanCleanupaimstostripplasticfromthesea
data:text/htmlcharset=utf8,%3Cheader%20style%3D%22margin%3A%200px%200px%204px%3B%20padding%3A%200px%3B%20border%3A%200px%3B 5/6
Theplatformwouldhavea10,000metrecubedcapacity,andwouldbeemptiedeveryoneandahalfmonths.Itsprocessingcapabilitieswouldbepoweredbyenergycollectedusingarigof162solarpanels.
AccordingtoSlat,alargeamountoftheplasticcollectedcouldthenberecycledorturnedintooilproductsusingachemicalprocesscalledpyrolysis.
Slatfirstcameupwiththeideain2011whenhewas16,afteradivingholidayinGreecewherehesawahugeamountofplasticwasteinthewater.Hedevelopedthisintoaschoolproject,whichwasgivenanawardbyDelft'sUniversityofTechnology.
SlatbeganadegreeinaerospaceengineeringatDelftUniversityin2012,butwantedtocontinueworkingonTheOceanCleanup,sosetupafoundationtodeveloptheschemefurther.Sixmonthsintohisdegree,heputhisstudiesonholdtopursuetheprojectfulltime.
In2013atalkthathehadgivenataTEDsatelliteeventwentviral,creatingawaveofpublicinterestthatallowedSlattoraisethefundstolauncharesearchexpeditiontotheNorthAtlanticGyre,followedbyalargescaletestofhisdesignneartheAzoresIslandslastyear.
-
9/4/2015 TheOceanCleanupaimstostripplasticfromthesea
data:text/htmlcharset=utf8,%3Cheader%20style%3D%22margin%3A%200px%200px%204px%3B%20padding%3A%200px%3B%20border%3A%200px%3B 6/6
Hisorganisationnowhasover100volunteers,includingscientistsandengineers,andissupportedby15otherinstitutions.
Acrowdfundingcampaignhasnowbeenlaunchedtopayforthenextphaseoftheproject,whichincludesa"seriesofupscaledtests,oceanographicfieldresearchandindepthengineeringtoeliminateuncertaintiesandoptimisetechnicaldesign."
Slat'sorganisationplanstolaunchafullscalepilotofTheOceanCleanupinthenextthreeyears.
TheOceanCleanupisoneof76projectsshortlistedfortheDesignMuseum'sDesignoftheYear2015awardandiscurrentlypartoftheawardsexhibitionatthemuseum'shomeinShadThames,southLondon.
Related Documents
