Education
Delft University of Technology.
Delft University of Technology.
He designed a passive system for concentrating and catching plastic debris driven by ocean currents. Initially, there was little interest but, since his TEDx talk, How the Oceans can Clean Themselves, went viral, he has attracted thousands of volunteers and $2M of funding for pilot installations. “Taking care of the world’s ocean garbage problem is one of the largest environmental challenges mankind faces today,” Slat stated in a blog post.
“Not only will this first cleanup array contribute to cleaner waters and coasts but it simultaneously is an essential step towards our goal of cleaning up the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.
This deployment will enable us to study the system’s efficiency and durability over time.”
He says, the system, which involves a static platform that passively corrals plastics as wind and ocean currents push debris through 2000-meter booms, will be the longest floating structure ever deployed in the ocean. The pilot program will be operational for at least two years in the proposed deployment location of Tsushima island in Japan, where approximately one cubic meter of plastic pollution per person is washed up each year.
Quotations: “Taking care of the world’s ocean garbage problem is one of the largest environmental challenges mankind faces today,”.