Three Ways Technology is Helping Clean Up Oceans

The theme/cause for the World Environment Day this year is ‘Plastic Free Future’ with prime focus on making the people aware of the damage caused by single use plastics. Clogging up landfills and their devastating impact on the oceans and waterways and associated marine lifecycles.

Oceans are the very essence of survival for our planet, the sustaining force that is home to hundreds and thousands of species, covers more than 72 percent of the planet and containing over 97 of the water. Threatened by our activities, the ocean pollution is now a threat for our planet, for us.

Here are some capable individuals and organisations that have devised innovative technologies to clean up the oceans in 3 steps.

1. 5 Gyres Institute (Before it enters the Water)

  (Source: The 5 Gyres Institute)

Focused on stopping the flow of plastic waste into our oceans, 5 Gyre Institute are researching all five subtropical gyres for their study identifying the influence of plastic microbeads on the water. The gyre’s being mentioned here, are the five key rotating ocean currents which have the biggest influence in global climate.

The team focuses on activism by working with people, politicians, and corporations to stop emissions at the source. “It’s far upstream trying to stop this flow of trash to sea. If you pick up what’s out there, you’re not stopping the problem continuing far into the future. You’ve got to stop the source,” said the founder of the company Marcus Eriksen.

2. The Ocean Clean-up, Boyan Slat (After it enters the Water)

(Source: The Ocean Cleanup)

Led by 23 year old Dutch inventor Boyan Slat, have created a technique which uses a giant floating pipe supported by anchors that use the natural current of the oceans to drive the system and collect plastic from the oceans  All the plastic is accumulated by the ocean currents in the oceanic garbage patches and the system will work in these patches using U shape screens that are suspended from the pipe to collect the waste and every once in a while all the plastic collected is transported by ships to be recycled.

Backed by a 30 million dollar funding so far, the company expects to clean up nearly 50% of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch in less than 5 years.

3. Biotic, Achmad Solikhin (Replace the Plastic)

Indonesia’s Achmad Solikhin was awarded for his technology, BIOTIC, a plastic product based on recycled and bio-based plastic. BIOTIC products have excellent properties, including decomposable, biodegradable, renewable, moisture and gas barrier, thermal stability, transparency, tensile strength, modulus Young, and elongation at break. And most importantly replace the plastic that keeps accumulating in the oceans with this product which due to its properties dissolves quickly.

Due to those superior properties, this innovative material can be used to tackle the abundance of synthetic plastic waste burden and as the alternative synthetic plastic for the future. His first product line will feature stylish helmets, but plans to expand into compostable packaging and furniture production in the future.

click here for the video