An ambitious project that seeks to clean the plastic continent that floats in the Pacific Ocean begins its operations this week. It is a great barrier that will trap the garbage that floats over the sea. The initiative is called "Great Pacific Garbage Patch" and generated an investment of US $ 20 million. Scientists are skeptical about the impact that it will have on biodiversity.
By José Díaz
Servindi, September 19th, 2018.- In recent days, one of the most ambitious environmental cleanup projects has been launched. This is the technological initiative promoted by the Dutch foundation The Ocean Cleanup that seeks to clean the Pacific Ocean of plastic pollution with a floating barrier of 600 meters that traps all garbage.
After having spent 5 years developing the technology, the project entitled "Great Pacific Garbage Patch" has started its operations in the Pacific Ocean. The methodology consists of taking advantage of the push of the wind and the waves to trap the plastic waste. The goal is to reduce by half the garbage dump that pollutes the largest ocean on the planet Earth.
The project involved an investment of $20 million and began to be managed in 2013 due to the impulse of the Dutch inventor and entrepreneur Boyan Slat. The main objective of this project is to vanish the well-known "Great Garbage of the Pacific", an island of 1.8 billion solid waste floating in the ocean between Hawaii and California.
The device, which is in the trial period, consists of a barrier 600 meters long and three meters deep that traps the solid waste and forms a “U”. After this it is expected to tow all the waste. The system has been described as a oceanic "Pac Mac".
Scientific doubts
Although the main argument of The Ocean Cleanup Foundation is that the cleanliness of the Pacific Ocean with conventional vessels would cause damage to oceanic fauna, this same argument is used by a sector of scientists who are skeptical of this invention.
"There is concern that it is not possible to remove the plastic without extracting marine life at the same time. We know from the fishing industry that, if you put any kind of structure in the open sea, it acts as a device to concentrate fish" explained George Leonard, a scientist at the Ocean Conservancy.
To this criticism is added that of Jesus Gago of the Spanish Institute of Oceanography who has emphasized the low economic viability of the Ocean Cleanup project. To that Gago adds the risk it implies to the ecosystems that inhabit the sea surface. The Spanish scientist says that the money that will involve collecting the plastic from the sea should be used to implement prevention policies.
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