Non-profit organisation The Ocean Cleanup has completed the removal of 100,000kg of plastic from The Great Pacific Garbage Patch (GPGP), which amounts to 0.1% of the total.
The GPGP is situated in the North Pacific Ocean where plastics from Asia, North America, and South America have been brought together by ocean currents.
The Ocean Cleanup spent three months in 2021 testing its ‘System 002’, which is a large floating barrier that utilises a water-based parachute to collect plastic. It has completed 45 extraction trips since starting its mission of clearing the GPGP and has covered an area of around 3000 sq.km.
In an Instagram post announcing their achievement the organisation said, “Today we reached an exciting milestone: over 100,000kg of plastic removed from the Great Pacific Garbage Patch – more than the combined weight of two and a half Boeing 737-800s.”
The Ocean Cleanup team is currently developing a ‘System 003’ that will be far large and more efficient, being able to collect plastic at 10 times the rate of ‘System 001’.
The Ocean Cleanup has set a goal of reducing plastics in the oceans by 90% by 2040. To reach their goal, The Ocean Cleanup are focussing not only on removing plastics from the ocean but also preventing plastics from reaching the ocean. To achieve this, they are developing and testing devices that can intercept plastics across river systems before they reach the oceans.
