ALAMEDA, CALIFORNIA — ALAMEDA, CALIFORNIA — The Ocean Cleanup is building a giant plastic-scooping system in Alameda, California and plans to set sail as early as this summer to begin cleaning up the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.
The Great Pacific Garbage Patch has an estimated 1.8 trillion pieces of plastics brought there by ocean currents and is roughly three times the size of France, according to an article published in Scientific Reports.
The Ocean Cleanup, started by 23-year-old Boyan Slat, has designed a massive 2,000-foot long, floating tube that will serve as a barrier to trap plastic.
It’s made from HDPE plastic and is flexible enough to bend with the waves, but rigid enough to form a U-shaped barrier to trap floating plastics pollution, according to Fast Company.
A nylon screen is attached underneath to catch plastics, but not be a threat to marine life.
Large floating anchors, hundreds of feet below the surface, help steady the device so it moves slower in the current than the plastic, making it possible to pick up the garbage in front of the device.
Ocean Cleanup spokesperson Joost Dubois said that when the final systems are sent out to the Pacific ocean, there will be 60 floating scoops in total.
Boats will come every six to eight weeks to collect the plastics and take them to shore to be recycled.
