'Giant snake' being used to catch plastic in the Pacific Ocean

[Spartacus101]

Source: BBC News

There's a massive project attempting to get rid of plastic rubbish from the middle of the Pacific Ocean.

We all know plastic can be a problem when it's thrown away because it doesn't break down or rot like natural materials do, including food or wood.

Often it can end up in our seas.

This is why a 600 metre long tube is being taken out to part of the Pacific Ocean known as the Great Garbage Patch.

The patch has been given this name because the water's currents there mean lots of plastic rubbish has gathered together.

Read more: https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/45458114

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Amidst the madness and daily "Trump of Doom", I thought some positive news was in order...

Also, I love the Pacific Ocean...nice to see someone actually DOING something about a environmental problem instead of just howling about it, or uttering, "More studies are needed!".

Good on these people!

[blue-wave]

1. Yes, definitively good on them!!

Get it out of the ocean before it breaks down into micro plastic.

[stopbush]

2. Lets face it, a 600-meter-long tube out in the Pacific

is literally a drop in the ocean.

[Spartacus101]

5. True, but the target....

...is "The Great Garbage Patch", a very specific area in the eastern Pacific that is truly awful due to currents, etc. But, as the article says, if this works, the prospect of entirely getting rid of it before it turns to microplastic, and by 2040 is very good.

You have to start SOMEWHERE, SOMETIME, with SOMETHING!

"Don't damn the darkness, light a flare!"

[stopbush]

8. I have to believe that scientists will come up with something less expensive

and more effective within the decade to deal with this problem.

In the meanwhile...

[Spartacus101]

9. Yes, in the meanwhile this is actually someone...

...doing something about it!

Don't disparage their efforts!

[OnlinePoker]

12. Their intention is to have 60 systems operational by 2020

The company founder believes they can clean 50% of the patch within 5 years and is also looking to the other 4 global gyres once the Pacific systems are fully deployed.

https://www.theoceancleanup.com/

[NickB79]

17. That's literally impossible

Other articles state that this system can remove 5 tons per month. 60 of them would only remove 300 tons per month, or 3600 tons per year.

We're currently adding 9 MILLION tons of plastic to the oceans annually.

We aren't going to make a dent in the problem until we hit it at the source.

[Spartacus101]

20. Hit it from both ends!

Yup...A problem this big rarely gets solved by one approach alone. A decrease in everyone using those little single-use water bottles would help.

One day a genius will invent a truly biodegradable plastic with a short life...

[yuiyoshida]

3. yay!

[appalachiablue]

4. K & R. Ingenius, and a good start!

[FSogol]

6. They really missed the boat by not naming it Jormungandr

[Harker]

22. There's a copy of the Poetic Edda on my table!

Last edited Sun Sep 9, 2018, 04:08 PM - Edit history (1)

Oop. It's the Prose Edda. Its poetic nature has had me confusing the two Eddas for nearly 40 years now. Ack.

[FSogol]

23. Woot! One DUer got my reference!

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

24. "Ouroboros" would be another good name, but ...

I'd still vote for "Snakey McSnakeface", just because.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

7. I'm so glad to see this finally happening!

There have been enough studies and etc., and now we are overdue for actually doing something productive about it.

It's high time!

[WhoWoodaKnew]

10. When I first saw this story a while back my first thought was, "Hey, that's my idea!"

It's not ground breaking or anything and I'm sure many people thought the same thing.

I just wonder why it took so long to do a basic thing.

[OnlinePoker]

11. I think it's the hubris of youth and the advent of crowdfunding

The guy who started the project was only 19 at the time and raised $2 million in initial crowd-funding before the tech crowd jumped onboard. Last I heard, they had over $30 million in donations. It launched today...here's the stream... https://www.theoceancleanup.com/system001/

[Spartacus101]

19. It's amazing...

...how "Mature Wisdom" sometimes resembles just being "too tired to move...".

Without taking away anything from society needing older and wiser heads to be at the table, the energy of youth is often the only thing that gets something off the ground.

"Listen to the experts; they'll tell you why and how a thing cannot be done in great detail...Then go out and do it."

Good for you, kid!

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

13. I likey!! nt

[Ligyron]

14. I wonder if we could stick one of those things in the White House to ...

naw...

[ThoughtCriminal]

15. Cigarette Butts - Largest single source

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/plastic-straw-ban-cigarette-butts-are-single-greatest-source-ocean-n903661

This line had me nodding:

In one focus group cited in industry documents, smokers said tossing their butts to the ground was “a natural extension of the defiant/rebellious smoking ritual.”

[Yupster]

16. The story really doesn't say how the thing works

So it gathers up a bunch of trash and then what? Do they tow the trash 1200 miles to a garbage dump on land?

[Spartacus101]

18. It's in the video...the plan is it gets hauled back to land and recycled.

[Yavin4]

21. I'm concerned about the wild life in the ocean

How does this affect them?