This article was first published in the March 2016 issue of WIRED magazine. Be the first to read WIRED's articles in print before they're posted online, and get your hands on loads of additional content by subscribing online.
Boyan Slat wants to help the Ocean to clean itself. "Actively fishing for plastic [to remove it] would take 7,900 years, and create emissions," says the 21-year-old founder and CEO of Delft-based organisation The Ocean Cleanup. "So I thought: why would you go through the ocean when the ocean can go through you?"
Slat's idea is to install floating barriers - secured to the seabed - and let the currents do the work. He believes plastic will build up at the centre of the boom, where it can then be removed by pumps and conveyor belts. Recovered plastic will then be recycled, helping to fund the project.
The goal is to deploy a 100km boom by 2020 in order to clear half of the so-called "Great Pacific Garbage Patch" -- a Texas-sized area of plastic junk -- within ten years. "It would cost about €350 million [£258m]," Slat says. "It's very cost effective when you're talking about solving a world problem."
In August 2015, Slat led an expedition of 30 vessels to better understand how much plastic is in the patch. After one month, the researchers concluded that there is far more than expected, most of it in large chunks. That's good on the one hand, because large chunks are easier to scoop up. But, as the plastic degrades, many more microplastic particles are going to end up in the seas - and in the food chain.
So Slat is speeding up his schedule. After crowdfunding more than $2.2m (£1.4m) in September 2014, The Ocean Cleanup will conduct two scale tests in 2016; the first, in the second quarter of the year, will test a 100m barrier 23km off the coast of the Netherlands.
The results will affect a 2km barrier near the Japanese island of Tsushima, to be installed in the second half of 2016. The project is expected to last for about two years. "We design something and we test it fast," Slat says. "It's cheaper and more effective than spending years in front of a computer to find out if it works or not."
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
