A project to remove plastic from the “Great Pacific Garbage Patch,” a gyre of debris in the North Pacific Ocean, has been launched. On 9 September, CNN began to tow its “Ocean Cleanup System 001” from San Francisco to a trial site. When the system is in place, a 10-foot skirt will collect plastic debris as small as one millimetre in size. The debris will then be returned to shore for recycling. Following the trial, the system will be towed to the gyre to begin its main mission, where it could collect 55 mt of plastic annually.
A project to remove plastic from the “Great Pacific Garbage Patch,” a gyre of debris in the North Pacific Ocean, has been launched. On 9 September, the Ocean Cleanup Project began to tow its “Ocean Cleanup System 001” from San Francisco to a trial site. When the system is in place, a 10-foot skirt will collect plastic debris as small as one millimetre in size. The debris will then be returned to shore for recycling. Following the trial, the system will be towed to the gyre to begin its main mission, where it could collect 55 mt of plastic annually.