Ocean cleanup system sets sail for “Great Pacific garbage patch”

Developed by Dutch non-profit organisation The Ocean Cleanup, the system is being towed to the so-called Great Pacific Garbage Patch, a 1.6 million square kilometre area of ocean halfway between California and Hawaii that contains a concentrated accumulation of an estimated 80,000 metric tons of plastic waste.

Brainchild of Dutch inventor Boyan Slat, the technology consists of a 600-meter-long U-shaped floating barrier with a three-meter skirt attached below. The barrier provides buoyancy and prevents plastic from flowing over it, whilst the skirt stops debris from escaping underneath.

The system - which has attracted more than $31.5 million funding from a host of investors - has no power source, but is instead propelled passively by the wind and the waves, allowing it to catch and concentrate plastic debris in front of it. Due to its shape, debris is funnelled to the centre of the system where it will be scooped up by ships once every six weeks.