Oceans free from plastic. Invented the sweeper of the sea
The Ocean Cleanup is the story of Boyan Slat, class of 1994, the Dutch guy, always been interested in environmental issues, which clears the oceans from plastic. A brilliant idea, judging by the two million dollars raised in a short time thanks to a campaign crowfunding.
Student of Aerospace Engineering, after a few dives in Greece, in 2011, he saw in front of him more plastic that fishes. He decided he had to do something concrete to improve the state of health of the sea.
This innovative project of cleaning the oceans in 2016 will become a reality. The first installation will be on an island located between Japan and South Korea, where the problem of pollution is very serious. The idea, brilliant in its simplicity, will be able to collect 7,250,000 tons of waste in just five years without damaging the ecosystem.
But how does the device work?
In practice, the machine is composed of a series of floating barriers firmly anchored to the seabed, which act as a filter. Leveraging the study of ocean currents, these barriers act as a kind of funnel large and can hold and store the waste. The plastic, once made to arrive collection platform, known as “the longest floating structure on the sea”, is filtered, separated and stored for recycling. The system is about 3 meters deep and is composed of two 2000-meter long arms arranged at an angle along the route of the currents. The structure also provides for the absence of networks below the barriers, to make it impossible to catch fish and other specimens. Most of the plastic, in fact, almost floating on the surface, then the organisms may pass through the barriers, without any danger.
This project has become a challenge because cleaning up the sea of waste is one of the greatest environmental challenges that humanity is facing today.
