| Title | Huge Barrier Isn't Trapping Plastic Waste in Pacific Ocean | |
| Date | Tuesday December 18 2018, @11:43PM | |
| Author | martyb | |
| Topic | ||
| from the https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eaCHH5D74Fs dept. | ||
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.
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printed from SoylentNews, Huge Barrier Isn't Trapping Plastic Waste in Pacific Ocean on 2024-05-15 03:20:18