Dealing with the Ocean Waste Plastic Challenge

Dealing with the Ocean Waste Plastic ChallengeThere are many ideas being promoted to clean up the plastic and other garbage from our oceans, but here’s one I hadn’t come across until now.  Each could be powered by a piece of solar PV, and could be set in an array to cover huge amounts of surface area.

The pace with which technology is advancing means that a great many of our most critical problems may go away quite quickly. Great time to be alive.

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4 comments on “Dealing with the Ocean Waste Plastic Challenge
  1. marcopolo says:

    Hi Graig,

    I received some information on this project, and while I definitely applaud the creativity and motives behind the projects, I remain unconvinced as to the practicability and durability of the design.

    I am returning to Australia in April, and this is one of a number of projects on my list to evaluate.

    Like you, I remain very hopeful of the genius and creativity of mankind, even if it’s just cleaning up the mess we created !:)

    • craigshields says:

      Wow, that’s great that you’re doing that, i.e., evaluating this concept. Please let me know what you come up with. Again, it’s one of dozens I’ve seen, but I really like it at first blush.

  2. Breath on the Wind says:

    There is a lot of trash in the oceans. Picking each piece by hand is impossible so we have many designs to collect the debris.

    The devilish detail here is that this thing seems to float in the water unattended and has to be emptied from time to time. What happens when thousands of these things are simply forgotten? What happens when one is lost? Will it become so much more debris that can threaten shipping? (see the movie “All is Lost” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lk_R04LfUQU )

    • marcopolo says:

      Breath on the Wind

      Yes, that also occurred to me. I supposed it would be feasible to equip each one with a tracking devise, but collection seems to be the problem.

      But I do see a possible use for such a product in large bays and harbours. Since these areas attract large human populations where this debris originates, maybe these devices could be collected by local authorities.