Oh, to be young and ambitious, and therefore necessary in the realm of saving the world. With the ocean holding 5 trillion pieces of plastic within its vastness, it’s understandable why this 20-year-old Dutchman’s plan ocean cleanup plans would be regarded as ambitious. By that count (reminder: 5 trillion), it should also be understandable why Boyan Slat, founder and CEO of The Ocean Cleanup, finds cleaning the ocean absolutely imperative a cause.
The Latest in Ocean Cleanup Technology
Slat unveiled his grand plans for his organization to set off the world’s first ever system to remove plastic waste from ocean all around the globe. The Ocean Cleanup’s technology is the first of its kind. Its main components include floating barriers spanning over a mile. This will make it the longest floating structure in the ocean. These floating barriers trap floating plastic debris in a funnel. Next, a conveyer belt picks this debris up.
What makes the Ocean Cleanup’s method revolutionary is its speed (7,900 times faster) and its cost-efficiency (33 times cheaper). Slat describes his ocean cleanup tech will contribute to cleaner waters, coasts, and toward the goal of cleaning up the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. Rancid as it sounds–and as good place as any to start–the Great Pacific Garbage Patch is a a gyre of oceanic debris in the central North Pacific Ocean.
The first of Slat’s ocean cleanup tech will be installed between Japan and South Korea to catch plastic debris heading toward the shores of Tsushima Island — hopefully by the second quarter of 2016.
Boylan Slat’s Version of Saving the World
Slat’s idea for his ocean cleanup goals and the innovative technology that could make it possible first came to him in 2012. He was only 16-years-old. In school at Delft University of Technology, Slat wrote a paper that turned out to be the beginnings of the concept of his Ocean Cleanup project. The final paper won Best Technical Design 2012 and several other awards.
As memories of Earth Day circa grade school are wont to remind us, pollution in our oceans has been one of the largest issues of the world’s largest environmental problems. Slat’s Ocean Cleanup tech could remove 7,250,000 tons of plastic debris from our world’s oceans. It may also save hundreds of thousands of marine mammals alone, preventing the sensitive biodiversity from breaking down. In case you’re ever looking for your every day real-life super hero, Boyan Slat could very well be your man.
