On October 2, 2019, Boyan Slat, who describes himself as a Cleaner who used to be an Aerospace Engineer, tweeted that the Great Ocean Clean Up System was officially catching plastic. From tiny microplastics to huge one-ton ghost nets, the system is catching garbage which is sorted on board before being sent to specifically chosen recyclers.
While it's very good news, and before you get too excited, the project, which is still a watching brief as the successful capture informs next steps rather than being the end solution. This is only their second design after the boom broke apart on the first design and failed to collect plastic. The Ocean Cleanup aims eventually to remove 90 per cent of plastic waste from the world's oceans using giant U-shaped floating rigs. The team are also unveiling what they believe is a breakthrough invention for solving plastic pollution via livestream from Port of Rotterdam on Sat, Oct 26, 8pm.
Slat and his team have posted two indications of next steps. "WE DO NOT HAVE A SET DATE TO ANNOUNCE JUST YET. WE WILL BE ASSESSING THE DEVELOPMENT PLANNING OVER THE NEXT FEW MONTHS AND ONCE WE CONCLUDE MISSION ONE WITH SYSTEM 001/B, WE WILL COMPILE OUR LEARNINGS FROM SYSTEM 001 AND SYSTEM 001/B AND BEGIN THE PROCESS OF DESIGNING SYSTEM 002."While it's pretty much a mute point, the cost of the project must have exceeded well over USA $50 million by now as it was around USA $25 million at the end of the first project.
Images: Great Ocean Clean Up