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World's first ocean plastic-cleaning machine set to tackle Great Pacific Garbage Patch
Key Excerpts from Article on Website of The Independent (One of the UK's leading newspapers)


The Independent (One of the UK's leading newspapers), April 22, 2018
Posted: April 29th, 2018
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/ocean-plas...

Scientists are preparing to launch the world's first machine to clean up the planet's largest mass of ocean plastic. The system, originally dreamed up by a teenager, will be shipped out this summer to the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, between Hawaii and California, and which contains an estimated 1.8 trillion pieces of plastic. Experts believe the machine should be able to collect half of the detritus in the patch about 40,000 metric tons within five years. The Great Pacific Garbage Patch (GPGP) spans 617,763 sq miles. Seabirds and other marine life are increasingly being found dead with stomachs full of small pieces of plastic. Creatures eat plastic discarded in the sea thinking its food but then starve to death because they are not feeding properly. Others are trapped and die of starvation. The system to tackle the largest swirling mass of rubbish in the Pacific has been designed by a non-profit technology firm called The Ocean Cleanup, set up by Dutch inventor Boyan Slat when he was an 18-year-old aerospace engineering student. The clean-up contraption consists of 40ft pipes ... that will be fitted together. Filled with air, they will float on the ocean's surface in an arc, and have nylon screens hanging down below forming a giant floating dustpan to catch the plastic rubbish that gathers together when moved by the currents. The screens, however, will be unable to trap microplastics tiny fragments. They plan to have 60 giant floating scoops, each stretching a mile from end to end. Boats will go out to collect debris every six to eight weeks.

Note: More than 50 species of fish have been found to consume plastic trash. For more along these lines, see concise summaries of deeply revealing health news articles from reliable major media sources.


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