Cleaning up the Oceans

Boyan Slat is the CEO of theoceancleanup. He has studied various different ways in which he could clean up the ocean, operating a team of 100 scientists. So far they have raised $2.2 million which will start bringing their plans into action. Well done Boyan; everytime I see awful pictures of plastic bags and waste in the seas I think why aren’t we doing anything about this? So I was delighted when I saw an article pop up on Buzzfeed. It Inspired me to let every one know about this and how we can help.

8 Million tonnes of plastic enters the ocean each year. This obviously affects the wildlife we have. The diagram above shows that these toxins can pass through the food chain. The toxins from these plastics are consumed by fish, which ultimately we consume. I don’t want to eat plastic not sure about you? It costs the UK £1bn each year to clean up litter, this is the money coming from our taxes! I would love to see more of my money going to the NHS and we can collectively do this by simply recycling and being careful with our waste. This project can help reduce the costs on cleaning up our beaches and the sea’s so more money can be spent elsewhere.

So what are they doing?

Okay so what it is a 2000 meter floating barrier between Japan and South Korea, it will be operational for roughly 2 years. The plastic will be collected from the barrier, washed up by using the ocean’s current. So there is no further harm being done in the process of this. There is also another barrier to be placed within the next 5 years (I would assume to funding/research) between the Hawaii and California – also known as the Great Garbage Patch. In total there are 5 barriers to be set up across the oceans.  They are also looking into ways in which the collected plastics could be made re-used and made into produce? Everyone remember those pencils that said “I was made from a plastic bag?” I dont see them anymore but everyone wanted them as a kid!

What can I do to help?

• Being more aware of recycling -www.nrdc.org
• Money can be tight, but have a spare £1 or £2? With the website donations you can donate as a one-off or set up a direct debit. When the oceans are clean and rates of cancer decrease due to less toxins consumed, you can be pleased to know that you have done something to help this. I for one would love to see this happen quicker than than 10 years estimated.
• Volunteer with this project, the link is available on their website. They have many different roles to offer such as Finance, Engineering, Administration. Imagine having this on your CV?!

data and pictures collected from theoceancleanup.com