By the year 2050, there will be as much plastic in the sea as there are fish. Sandy shores are often littered with bottles, plastic cases, and garbage that can easily float into the water and can affect the wildlife in it. This problem seemed insolvable because of the fact that there is just so much plastic in the ocean already. I guess Boylan Slat didn’t get that memo. Slat, a 21 year old from Netherlands invented a technique, at the age of 17, that will supposedly clean about 50% of the plastic in the ocean by 2026.
It’s a long floating barrier, shaped like a V, which traps all the plastic floating in the water, while allowing a current to flow underneath so fish and other wildlife do not risk getting trapped amongst all the plastic. The V shape is intentional, in that the plastic will eventually congregate to the center and will make it easier to collect and extract from the ocean.
By June of this year, the first test will commence in the North Sea, near South Holland. For more information about this project: The Ocean CleanUp .
