A floating device sent to corral a swirling island of trash between California and Hawaii has not swept up any plastic waste—but the young innovator behind the project said Monday that a fix was in the works.
Boyan Slat, 24, who launched the Pacific Ocean cleanup project, said the speed of the solar-powered barrier isn't allowing it to hold on to the plastic it catches.
"Sometimes the system actually moves slightly slower than the plastic, which of course you don't want because then you have a chance of losing the plastic again," Slat said in an interview with The Associated Press.
A crew of engineers will reach the U-shaped boom Tuesday and will work for the next few weeks to widen its span so that it catches more wind and waves to help it go faster, he said.
The plastic barrier with a tapered 10-foot-deep (3-meter-deep) screen is intended to act like a coastline, trapping some of the 1.8 trillion pieces of plastic that scientists estimate are swirling in the patch while allowing marine life to safely swim beneath it.
They should try hiring dolphins.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by takyon on Wednesday December 19 2018, @12:29AM (4 children)
The microplastic contamination of the oceans proves that homo sapiens are superior to dolphins.
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(Score: 3, Informative) by edIII on Wednesday December 19 2018, @12:38AM
Until they laugh their asses off that we couldn't be bothered to review the hyperspace bypass construction plans that put it right through the Earth.....
Technically, lunchtime is at any moment. It's just a wave function.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday December 19 2018, @12:56AM (2 children)
Or we are busy making them into super dolphins with all them chemicals.
(Score: 3, Touché) by c0lo on Wednesday December 19 2018, @08:46AM (1 child)
That would have been the tentacle, who had its day, not the dolphins
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2) by takyon on Wednesday December 19 2018, @03:57PM
Microplastics make me feel great! Smarter! More aggressive!
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