In the ocean will be installed a system for collecting garbage
Last reviewed: 16.05.2018
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In recent years, a huge amount of debris has accumulated in the world's oceans, which creates artificial garbage landfills from plastic remains.
Plastic is a threat to all living things, as experts calculated, 90% of seabirds die due to the use of plastic waste, which they mistakenly take for food.
When the plastic dissolves, a peculiar suspension forms, which not only the birds, but also the inhabitants of the ocean take for microorganisms and eat. As a result, contaminated fish, including mercury and lead, eventually enter the body of a person who eats such fish.
Experts have long been trying to change the situation and are developing various ways that will help clear the world's ocean of debris.
The most promising project seems to Boyana Slata, a 20-year-old Dutchman who dreams to save the ocean from debris. Its cleaning system may start as early as next year, and it will represent the longest cleansing design that has ever been placed in the ocean. Several years ago, the Dutchman proposed to place in the ocean platforms, which will collect floating on the surface of the water debris. Slat received several awards for his invention and won the Design competition of the year 2015. After that, Slat founded the Ocean Cleanup Foundation to realize his dreams.
The Slata system received relevant documents confirming the feasibility of the project (TEO), and at the pilot stage of the project it was possible to collect more than two million dollars.
The idea of Slata is to create a system of booms and a processing platform. The structure will be anchored and will be able to cover the entire perimeter of a landfill in the ocean and work as a huge funnel, pull in the debris floating on the surface.
The booms will be located at a slope of 450 and guide the trash to the platform for filtration (purification from plankton) and save for subsequent disposal. Using booms instead of grids will cover a large surface and catch the smallest particles of debris. A small speed of travel in combination with booms will eliminate the possibility of skipping even the smallest piece of plastic.
Initially, it was assumed that the installation would provide itself with energy by itself with the help of solar radiation and the flow of water.
Also, the special movements of the platform resemble the movement of the ramp, so that even in adverse weather conditions, the maintenance personnel will be assured of the system's operability and maintain contact with the surface of the water.
According to preliminary data, the system will be installed near the coast of Fr. Tsushima in the Strait of Korea.
According to estimates, 1 inhabitant of the island has 1m3 of pollution, which is washed every year from Tsushima. This fact forced the Japanese government to look for new ways to solve the problem.
The Slata system will cover 2000m of the ocean surface and will be the longest structure in the ocean. For five years, the installation is planned to increase, resulting in a floating cleaning system with a length of 100km right in the center of the garbage dump between California and Hawaii.