A device designed to remove plastic debris from the sea left San Francisco on Saturday.
A device created to remove plastic trash in the Pacific Ocean was towed out to sea from San Francisco Bay on Saturday.
The System 001 cleanup device, created by a Dutch nonprofit organization called The Ocean Cleanup, is being taken to a location 240 nautical miles offshore for a two-week trial. After testing, it will be towed to the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, 1,200 nautical miles offshore, to start the cleanup.
An offshore supply ship, Maersk Launcher, is towing the device, made available by A.P. Møller – Maersk and DeepGreen, the ship’s current charter holder.
The System 001 cleanup system is an unmanned, U-shaped floating barrier, 2,000 feet long with a 10-foot skirt attached below. The system is designed to be propelled by wind and waves, allowing it to passively catch and concentrate plastic debris in front of it. Due to its shape, the debris will be funneled to the center of the system and then periodically removed by a ship and taken to shore to be recycled. It is equipped with lights, anti-collision systems, cameras, sensors and satellite antennas to prevent it from becoming a hazard to navigation and communicate when it needs to be emptied.
The Great Pacific Garbage Patch, the world’s largest accumulation zone of ocean plastics, is situated halfway between Hawaii and California. The patch contains 1.8 trillion pieces of plastic and covers an area twice the size of Texas.
The Ocean Cleanup anticipates that the first plastic will be collected and returned to land within six months after deployment. If successful and funding is available, The Ocean Cleanup aims to build a fleet of 60 systems focused on the Great Pacific Garbage Patch over the next two years. The Ocean Cleanup projects that the full fleet can remove half of the plastic in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch within five years.
The Ocean Cleanup tackling Great Pacific Garbage Patch
