See full version: 8 amazing solutions to stop plastic flowing into the world’s oceans
These unique cleanup tools are locally designed, inexpensive and built using locally sourced materials. The traps feature two floating booms with mesh that guide floating waste to a trap connected to the riverbank by a bamboo platform allowing for easy emptying and maintenance. [links]
Startup social enterprise Chemolex Company has joined forces with non-profit initiative Smart Villages, to establish 10 plastic capture devices along the Athi river and its tributaries, the Nairobi and Ngong rivers.
More than 90% of plastic is never recycled, and a whopping 8 million metric tons of plastic waste are dumped into the oceans annually. At this rate, there will be more plastic than fish in the world’s oceans by 2050.
Inspired by the waste-eating design of Baltimore’s “Mr Trash Wheel”, Panama-based non-profit Marea Verde will install a water-wheel powered waste capture system adapted for the Juan Diaz river. here
Netherlands-based not-for-profit The Ocean Cleanup will deploy its Interceptor technology in the waterways flowing into Kingston Harbour to prevent floating waste from entering the Caribbean Sea. more
Interceptors are The Ocean Cleanup’s river solutions designed to stop plastic from entering oceans. Through the use of a barrier and conveyor system, the waste will be halted and extracted from gullies and returned to shore for recycling or proper disposal. In addition to these cleanup operations, The Ocean Cleanup is partnering with local NGOs to engage and involve the Kingston community in these efforts and raise awareness on plastic pollution with the youth in Jamaica more
Current plastic monitoring programs all fall short of a global scale; there are only local and regional programs, which present major gaps. "Boy, what an advance it would be to be able to see the world in a snapshot," said James Carlton, an ecologist at Williams College who has studied how plastic moves species around the globe. [links]
Millions of tons of plastic makes its way into the oceans every year, but once it gets there, scientists still don't know precisely what happens to it. They know it can break down into smaller pieces of plastic but never actually decompose; it can kill a wide variety of animals. But it's hard to see, so they don't know where it goes or how long it stays there.
"I think what's been so challenging about characterizing the plastic floating in the ocean is that the ocean is so vast," Jenna Jambeck, who studies waste at the University of Georgia and who isn't involved with the project, told Newsweek. "It's been pretty difficult to sort of wrap your hands around this issue globally in terms of sources, sinks, quantification and that sort of thing."
Now, scientists at the European Space Agency want to use a satellite to help get a better handle on these questions. If the project is successful, it could be the first global effort to measure how much plastic is where across the oceans. here
The team wants to build a machine that can identify plastic by spotting distinctive characteristics in light reflecting off it. Scientists such as the University of Connecticut's Heidi Dierssen are already working on making that technique a reality using airplane surveys. more
It's hard to clean up the ocean without knowing why and how it gets polluted in the first place. So the first step is to get informed. Go online, turn on a documentary, or grab a book from the library—there are countless ways to learn about the ocean without having to move off the couch. Learn how your plastic water bottle winds up in the ocean in the first place, or how the oil from your engine can travel through the sewer and into nearby bodies of water. You can even learn about lesser-known forms of pollution—did you know that even noise pollution underwater can kill marine life? The best way to begin your ocean advocacy is to know the hows and whys.
For instance, the Pacific Fishery Management Council recently voted to protect approximately 140,000 square miles of ocean from bottom trawling, a move that will prevent commercial fishing nets from harming coral and rocky reefs in that area. According to The Pew Charitable Trusts, who were also involved, this vote was a result of five years worth of research and lobbying from environmental groups and charities, and thousands of letters from activists and concerned citizens.
There are plenty of reasons to cut down on the plastic you use every day, but if you want to do your part for the ocean, it's doubly important. To put it into sobering perspective: It's possible that around 8 million tons of plastic get into our oceans every year, harming plant life, water quality, and marine animals around the globe. To put that into further perspective, near Los Angeles, around 10 tons of plastic fragments find their way into the Pacific every day.
Beyond that, contact one of the organizations above and see how you can get involved. If that doesn’t work, search your local community for beach clean ups, conservation programs, or other ways to get involved!
This is the exact stance of Dutch entrepreneur and engineer, Boyan Slat, CEO of The Ocean Cleanup. He argues in a 2015 article, “the ocean garbage patches do not go away by themselves and hence need to be cleaned up at some point in time.” Slat continues, “even if we manage to prevent more plastic from entering the oceans, the garbage patches will continue to cause damage.”
Or as Slat phrases it, “unexpected learning opportunities”. here
Marine biologists commonly use this analogy in reference to plastic pollution. And they have a point. Why focus on the clean-up if the problem doesn’t get fixed from the source?
Discussing whether or not we focus our energy and resources on prevention or cleanup is futile. Why? They go hand and hand. They complement each other. How? more
So who’s cleaning up our oceans? Thankfully, a few companies have popped up as the demand for plastic-free seas wildly increases! more