Well not so much hit in the Sea Shepherd f-u, move over, we're coming to get you kind of way. He pretty much chugged out of San Francisco at an average speed of 3 knots, towing a big assed 600 metre tube thing with its long skirt, and the hopes of countless scientists, officials and everyday people all over the world dragging behind him. And then of course, there are the whales, turtles and fish underneath who'd really like all this plastic crap out of their back yard, from around their swimmers and out of their tummies. Finally there is the small matter of our own survival. Clean up the oceans or suffer the consequences. After so much global fanfare over the past few years years of research, engineering and testing, Slat and his team seemed to slip out of San Francisco Bay almost quietly. Perhaps reflecting both the size of the job he's undertaken, along with the promises he's made. Anyways, we are at point of proof. Big time.Here is the plan. First, The Ocean Cleanup is quietly and methodically working its way toward the first intermediary test stop, around 300 nautical miles offshore for a 2-week trial. From there it moves to the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, 1,200 nautical miles offshore, to start the actual cleanup. Presumably if all goes well. If you haven't heard of Boyan Slat, he's the kid who came up with the idea that you could create a fake 'coastline' and use the ocean's natural currents to clean up the ocean's plastics. The concept is simple - there is a 600 metre long floater on the surface and attached to it is a 3 metre skirt. The floater stops the plastic floating over the top and the skirt catches it underneath.
Over the past 5 years since he first floated the idea, Slat has assembled a literal flotilla of people, money, science and a finished working product and has now set off on the next 5 year plan - at the end of which he reckons he'll have cleaned up the oceans of plastic.
The Ocean Cleanup systems are designed to pick up plastics of all sizes - from just millimeters in size, up to huge pieces like ghost nets which can can be kilometres long and tens of meters wide.
Ocean Cleanup modelling shows that with a fleet of around 60 systems, they could clean 50% of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch in five years.
Once the fleets of systems are in every ocean gyre, and assuming source reduction, The Ocean Cleanup believes they will be able to remove 90% of ocean plastic by 2040.
The Ocean Cleanup welcome individuals, governments and companies to join the cleanup by adopting and setting up their own ocean cleanup systems. If you would like more information on how to make a major contribution to the scale-up of the Ocean Cleanup fleet, please contact them directly.
If you want to join the Ocean Cleanup team, they are always on the hunt for master problem solvers, willing to do whatever it takes to rid the world's oceans of plastic, contact them via the Ocean Cleanup Careers page.
As you can imagine, there is a lot more to this important story. If you want more detail on the background, are interested in getting involved or want to track progress, head to the Ocean Cleanup website.