In the article, “Boy Genius Boyan Slat’s Giant Ocean Machine Is Real”, Schiller (2017) explores the potential of a huge ocean cleaning initiative envisioned by Slat. According to the article, the discovery of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch by Charles Moore in 1997 led to Slat starting the development of the Ocean Cleanup machine in 2011. The article states that Slat’s design functions as colossal floating booms that will entrap and gather waste which will allow for convenient disposal. He also made significant improvements to the design in hopes of increasing efficiency, reducing cost, saving time and effort. The article also reported a prototype testing which will be done later in the year and how the project is funded by various companies and individuals. A former failed prototype provided insights on how Slat can improve on his design. Slat claims to have done extensive research on the Patch and estimated tons of waste to be cleaned annually. Schiller learns about Slat’s long term plans during a conversation in which Slate hopes to recycle the plastic waste into useful products and for more companies to invest in the project.
While I do agree the Ocean Cleanup initiative is an exceptional method to clean the ocean, there are still certain limitations to the machine itself. Firstly the machine is unable to pick up trash lying at the seabed, secondly heavier trash like machinery parts waste cannot be picked up, and lastly it seems like the rate the Great Pacific Garbage Patch growth is ahead and faster than the rate the machine can clean up. Although I agree that the the Ocean Cleanup initiative is an exceptional method to clean the ocean, there are still inefficiency in the system.
Firstly, the machine not working. According to http://www.forbes.com, “Three months in, an ambitious project to clean up the Great Pacific Garbage Patch isn’t capturing tons of plastic as planned.” Kart (2018). According to the article above, the engineering and technology team are still finding out why it’s not working and the solution to the cause of the problem, Kart (2018). According to http://www.kect.rg, “if 98 percent of the problem plastics in our oceans are the size of grains of rice or smaller, building a plastic collector that takes only pieces larger than 2 centimeters from the top three meters of the ocean would seem a fairly useless exercise.” Clarke (2015). Clarke points out that the system will not work especially for majority of the floating plastic wastes which is smaller than what the device was designed to capture.
Secondly, the system requires frequent manual labour and human intervention, which also puts the machine in risk of human errors. Fatigue and various other human factors are mostly considered undesirable in sustainable systems. Human intervention tends to have fluctuating outcomes which lacks consistency. Research had been on-going since 2015 (from http://www.theoceanclaenup.com), the engineering team of The Ocean Cleanup had been assembling the device for a year and tests were done, Parker (2019) from http://www.nationalgeographic.com. However the machine still disintegrate less than a year since launch despite it was assembled but engineers. The point above shows that human factor plays a part in the failure of the device.
Lastly, the device’s durability was not mentioned in the article. According to Parker (2019) “The ocean cleanup contraption developed to collect plastic trash from the Pacific Garbage Patch is being towed back to San Francisco during the first week of January 2019 for repairs, after losing a 60-foot end piece. The break was discovered during a routine inspection and is believed to be caused by metal fatigue, though analysis is still underway.” from http://www.nationalgeographic.com. It had just barely begun last quarter last year (2018) and a huge piece of the device already start to disintegrate. Measures and considerations for rough seas and extreme weather conditions should have been factored in the design to provide maximum efficiency, however it seems like the device is not as seaworthy as expected.
In conclusion, I applauded Slat for coming up with this idea and agree that it will successfully clean up the ocean to a certain extent. However, for it to work, there are more factors to consider and efficiency to improve on. By improving the system and increasing the number of deployment to its optimum efficiency, we might finally be able to look back and be proud that our generation managed to return cleaner seas to nature.
References
Jeff Kart. (December 2015). The Ocean Cleanup Isn’t Capturing Plastic, But Organizers Are Testing A Solution. Retrieve from https://www.forbes.com/sites/jeffkart/2018/12/05/the-ocean-cleanup-isnt-capturing-plastic-but-organizers-are-testing-a-solution/#373fedb11749
Chirs Clarke. (June 2015). 6 Reasons That Floating Ocean Plastic Cleanup Gizmo is a Horrible Idea. Retrieve from https://www.kcet.org/redefine/6-reasons-that-floating-ocean-plastic-cleanup-gizmo-is-a-horrible-idea
http://www.theoceancleanup.com/great-pacific-garbage-patch/
Laura Parker. (January 2019). Floating trash collector has setback in Pacific Garbage Patch. Retrieve from https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/2018/09/ocean-cleanup-plastic-pacific-garbage-patch-news/