Pacific Trash Vortex

 

The Ocean Clean UP Project. 

 

Question 

What are the successes and Failures of the Ocean Clean Up Project? 

 

Summary 

 

Boyan Stat is a Dutch Entrepreneur, Engineer, and CEO of Ocean Cleanup (Slat).  has devised better ways to clean up the oceans and rivers, in order to rid them of plastic.

 

Successes 

 

Ocean Cleanup, with its novel idea of a floating catch boom instead of a fixed one, (Ocean Cleanup) has found a better way of dealing with the Pacific Trash Vortex. The current status quo ideas of passivity, and ambivalence, are giving way to critical thinkers. The time has come to try new ideas, because the old ones aren’t working. (Ocean Cleanup)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

System 002”Jenny”

 

In late July 2021, Ocean Cleanup returned to the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, and deployed “Jenny,” the latest prototype of their ocean cleaning system, for trials. The trials lasted 12 weeks. It was the first large scale deployment of “Jenny.” The trials went well, proving proof of concept. In company with System 002, will be 003. Right now, System 003 is in design phase. A fleet of them is envisioned. (Ocean Cleanup)

 

Failures

 

At the end of 2018 Ocean Cleanup towed a 2000-foot plastic collection boom 240 miles off shore, for two weeks. Then it was towed another 1400 miles off of the west coast of California. The boom didn’t work as advertised.one reason it was in rougher seas. The system also moved too slowly and didn’t collect enough plastic. (Consortium.) In December of 201860 of the boom became detached due to material fatigue. Ocean Cleanup figured it was the wave action. These setbacks could have been foreseen if a little more care had gone into data analysis, and simulations before constructing the booms.

 

 Understanding material stresses is a key component of an engineering project and one that is well understood before construction. (Consortium.)

 

This kind of engineering will have setbacks, and those setbacks will be understood and fixed. I believe that this type of forward thinking outside the box, so to speak, is what drives innovation. Ocean Cleanup understands the problem and is looking for a solution that is not status quo. What we are doing now is not working, so we need a better way. We aren’t going to get one if we don’t try new things. If not to at least tell us they won’t work, so we can go on to something else. We have to also remember that Ocean Cleanup, is a nonprofit organization. I have no problem with failure. It just makes one better. Or in this case, it gives us better ideas, or at least different ones, which is what is needed, in innovation.

 

 

Bibliography

Consortium., Dr. Craig McClain Executive Director of the Lousiana University Marine. "boondoggle-ocean-cleanup/." n.d. https://www.deepseanews.com/2019/01/. is the Executive Director of the Lousiana University Marine Consortium. 18 2 2022.

Ocean Cleanup. "https://theoceancleanup.com/milestones/system-002/." 2021. https://theoceancleanup.com/milestones/system-002/. Laptop. 18 2 2022.

Slat, Boyan. "About." n.d. https://boyanslat.com/. 18 2 2022.