World's first ocean plastic-cleaning machine set to tackle Great Pacific Garbage Patch

[muriel_volestrangler]

40. As the article says, this can't itself collect microparticles at all

You have to collect the large bits first. And those are more concentrated at "bushy river edges" than in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.

If you read the Fast Company article that got the Independent to write this (they link to it), you find:

Slat, like others working on the problem of plastic waste, recognizes that collecting existing waste is only part of the challenge. The other, of course, is stopping the initial flow of trash into the ocean, whether it’s been dumped into the Yangtze River or fallen through a storm drain in Los Angeles. “Cleanups play an essential role in dealing with the symptoms of ocean plastics pollution, but they do not address the causes,” says Sander Defruyt, New Plastics Economy lead for the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, an organization that works on helping create closed-loop systems for plastic. “They cannot keep pace with the rising tide of plastic pollution. To tackle the plastic pollution crisis, there is an urgent need to rethink the way we make, use, and reuse plastics. This will require innovators, industry, and governments to collaborate and develop solutions that prevent plastic from becoming waste in the first place.” The organization has persuaded several major brands and retailers to commit to 100% reusable, recyclable, or compostable packaging, and promotes solutions like compostable, marine-degradable plastic made from food and agricultural waste by the startup Full Cycle Bioplastics.

https://www.fastcompany.com/40560810/the-revolutionary-giant-ocean-cleanup-machine-is-about-to-set-sail

The graph Slat is standing in front of, in the Independent article, shows it won't be done in 10 years either. The early gains are fast; it gets harder after that (collecting small bits without killing all the fish is hard).