This article by Schiller (2017), tells the story of Boyan Slat and the culmination of his efforts in making his vision of an Ocean Clean-up Machine a reality. The article states that oceanographer Charles Moore first spotted the Great Pacific Garbage Patch in 1977. Since then, the Patch has proliferated to the point of having areas where one could traverse. By virtue of his profession as an inventor, Slat's innovative design involves booms in a floating arrangement of up to 50 devices of 0.6 miles each. The article further mentions that Boyan Slat anticipates his project to amass tens of thousands of tons of waste a year to be disposed of monthly through these devices. Slat has since announced that his project will commence waste elimination from the Patch in 2018. Lastly, Schiller explained that Boyan Slat aims to recycle plastic waste into commodities such as chairs and eyewear and attract companies to sponsor each boom with striking logos to aid his company in lowering costs.
Litter in the ocean over the years has reached an unacceptable level. Even with Boyan Slat's ocean clean-up machine, it is still not very possible to be able to fully clear the oceans of the world due to the state of the current trash situation and how the world is still contributing to it.
Firstly, the negligent disposal of trash, especially plastics, is still a big issue in today's world. Based on an article by Stuart (2021), he explains that every year, a whopping number of eight million tonnes of plastic is released into the ocean. This is equivalent to a single garbage truck unloading into the ocean every minute. He also quotes from another article that by 2050, the accumulated plastic mass could surpass that of the fishes in the sea. Towards the end of his article, he begins to tell us that there is no one true solution to cleaning the ocean's trash. This devalues Boyan Slat’s ocean cleanup machine, making it seem ineffective as it can only contribute a small amount.
Secondly, the predictions Slat has made would have to face the ideal and reality gap. Due to other complications, the desired outcome might not always be met. Based on another article by Backman (2020), she elaborates that a German marine biologist named Sönke Hohn has done all the calculations relating to the topic. From Hohn's calculations, he claimed that a single device could only “remove a small fraction of 1 percent of the plastic by 2150”. With all the machines operating together, it will still have little impact on the actual problem.
Thirdly, the ocean clean-up machine would not be effective on its own, but it takes other efforts by every individual to be able to really tackle the problem. In an article by Dickie (2021), she quoted Goldstein, director of ocean policy at the Centre for American Progress think tank. "I think they’re coming from a good place of wanting to help the ocean, but by far the best way to help the ocean is to prevent plastic from getting in the ocean in the first place,". Goldstein also claimed that "Once the plastic has gotten into the open ocean, it becomes very expensive and fossil-fuel intensive to get it back out again." Despite all efforts from the inventors, as long as the rate that garbage is put out is more than the rate that it's collected, the solution will never get any better.
However, there seems to be a common trend between the three articles previously referenced. This is the fact that the main problem in this whole trash situation is the root of the problem to begin with. The careless disposal of trash, especially plastics. Based on the ocean clean-up (n.d.) official website, they disclose that their efforts include the use of a rubbish interceptor. This will prevent the waste thrown into the sea to be brought into the ocean, at which it will accumulate. This allows them to shut the problem off from the source and therefore generate a considerable impact on the project.
Overall, the ocean clean-up efforts by Boyan Slat in itself are ineffective due to the severity of the current situation. It can only clean up a small area, at a slow rate. This is especially because the rate of trash release is at a high, causing the cleanup efforts to slow down significantly.
Reference List
Backman, I. (2020, November 25). Clean up efforts won't solve the plastic pollution crisis in the world's seas. Mongabay Environmental News.
Dickie, G. (2021, September 16). Ocean cleanup struggles to fulfill promise to scoop up plastic at sea.
Ocean Cleanup (n,d). Rivers. https://theoceancleanup.com/about/
Schiller, B. (2017, June 30). Boy genius Boyan slat's giant ocean cleanup machine is real. Fast Company.
https://www.fastcompany.com/40419899/boy-genius-boyan-slats-giant-ocean-cleanup-machine-is-real
Stuart, R. (2021, September 21). Scooping plastic out of the Ocean is a losing game. Hakai Magazine. https://hakaimagazine.com/features/scooping-plastic-out-of-the-ocean-is-a-losing-game/#:~:text=In%20the%20project's%2020%2Dyear,to%20run%20nonstop%20until%202150.
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