Arthur Neslen - Dutch prototype clean-up boom brings Pacific plastics solution a step closer
A report by the Ellen MacArthur foundation earlier this year predicted that there would be more plastic than fish in the ocean by 2050, unless urgent action was taken.
A bid to clear the
Pacific of its plastic debris has moved a step closer with the launch of the
biggest prototype clean-up boom yet by the Dutch environment minister at a port
in The Hague. On Thursday the
100m-long barrier will be towed 20km out to sea for a year of sensor-monitored
tests, before being scaled up for real-life trials off the Japanese coast at
the end of next year. If all goes well, full-scale
deployment of
a 100km-long version will take place in the “great Pacific garbage
patch” between California and Hawaii in 2020.
The Dutch environment
minister, Sharon Dijksma, told the Guardian that her government, which
part-funded the test, was fully backing the project, which will eventually
cost around €300m. “We can use our
political pressure with other governments, businesses and the international
institutions to fund this on an even bigger scale,” she said. “We are used to
fronting public-private [partnerships] like this. It is not new for us. When it
is a success, philanthropists will be standing in line asking to join us.”
The snake-like ocean
barrier is made out of vulcanised rubber and works by harnessing sea currents
to passively funnel trash in surface waters – often just millimetres in
diameter – into a V-shaped cone. A cable sub-system
will anchor the structure at depths of up to 4.5km – almost twice as far down
as has even been done before – keeping it in place so it can trap the rubbish
for periodic collection by boats.
A fully scaled-up
barrier would be the most ambitious ocean cleansing project yet, capturing
around half of the plastic soup that circles the Pacific gyre within a decade.
That at least is the plan. The largely
crowd-funded project has caught the imagination of a new generation in the Netherlands. In no
small part this is down to the unaffected charisma of its 21-year-old founder
Boyan Slat, a student dropout turned environmental entrepreneur.
“The key objective of
these tests is to see if we can build something that can survive at sea for
years if not decades,” he said. “We want to test the efficiency of the system,
understand its behaviour, and see what damage it suffers over time from
abrasion or fatigue.” After promising
tests at the Marin research institute in Waginengen earlier this year, the
prototype was developed with the renowned dredging and marine contractor, Royal
Boskalis Westminster. Peter Berdowski, the firm’s CEO, described it as “a
wonderful concept” and “very inspiring”.
The Dutch government
is so convinced of its feasibility that it is taking Slat to Indonesia in
November, as part of a high-level climate and trade mission, led by the prime
minister, Mark Rutte. Discussions are likely
to focus on the possibility of attaching the barrier to the mouths of river
inlets as a way of staunching the 800 metric tonnes of plastic which stream
into the Pacific and Indian oceans every year.
Dijksma said: “We will
try to see if there is a possibility to put this project in place with the
Indonesian government too. We have not done the deal yet. But the fact that
Boyan will be in the delegation is important because we only take people with
us when we think they offer solutions that could be interesting for other
governments.”
With up to 29.1 items
of rubbish per metre, the Indonesian archipelago has the
world’s second highest concentration of shoreline marine debris, after
Sicily, which has 231 items per metre. In 2014, 311m tonnes
of plastic were produced around the world, a 20-fold increase since 1964 that
is expected to quadruple again by mid-century. A report by the Ellen MacArthur
foundation earlier this year predicted that there would be more
plastic than
fish in the ocean by 2050, unless urgent action was taken.
See also
more than 300 million tonnes of plastic
is manufactured every year.. From supermarket bags to CDs, man-made waste
has contaminated the entire globe, and become a marker of a new geological
epoch
We
could end up with 'as much plastic in our oceans as fish'
There are currently estimated to be around 800m tonnes of fish in the oceans and 100m to 150m tonnes of plastic. This is increasing by around 20m tonnes a year, but that growth is expected to accelerate as far greater numbers of people are able to afford to buy products that are made with, or packaged in, plastic.
There are currently estimated to be around 800m tonnes of fish in the oceans and 100m to 150m tonnes of plastic. This is increasing by around 20m tonnes a year, but that growth is expected to accelerate as far greater numbers of people are able to afford to buy products that are made with, or packaged in, plastic.
