Ocean Cleanup
There's a lot of plastic trash in our oceans, which is a big problem. Plastic is really harmful to fish, seabirds, and marine mammals. Scientists have predicted that there will be more plastic than fish in the ocean by 2050! However, a inventor from the Netherlands named Boyan Slat has come up with a big plan to tackle all this ocean garbage. When Boyan was 16 years old he went on a diving trip in Greece, but he was shocked to see more garbage bags than fish in the water! This event inspired him to change the way we clean up the ocean. Two years later, when Boyan turned 18, he presented his plan to clean up all the floating plastic in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. The Garbage Patch is a section of the ocean that holds almost 2 trillion pieces of plastic, and covers an area that is twice the size of Texas! It has been six years since Boyan shared his idea, and now he is getting ready to launch and test his plastic collecting technology in the ocean.
On September 8, 2018, Boyan's team of more than 70 engineers, researchers, and scientists at his company, The Ocean Cleanup, will send the gigantic plastic collector into the Pacific Ocean. The device is a long floating tube that is powered by the wind, waves, and ocean's current. As the tube moves through the ocean it naturally forms a letter U shape, and slowly takes the floating plastic with it. Once the device has collected enough plastic, a boat will round up the trash and take it to shore to be recycled! The tube is designed without any nets to avoid trapping fish, sea turtles, and tiny plankton. The device even comes with solar powered lights, cameras, sensors, and antennas so the team can always safely monitor its progress. If the test goes well, Boyan is planning on releasing 60 more collectors into the ocean. We are not sure how much an impact these devices will have on the plastic in the ocean at this point, so it's still important to do our part and reduce the plastic we are using in our day to day lives!
What could you design to help clean up our oceans? Shows us your ideas in the design section!