The Ocean Cleanup Project’s long-awaited collection system has been launched and is now en route for the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, ready to chip away at the largest accumulation of ocean plastics in the world.
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After more than five years of development, the moment of truth is fast arriving for the Ocean Cleanup Project. Team members added the finishing touches to the trash-catching system over the weekend, with less than a week to go until it is towed out towards the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.
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Cellulose and chitin are the world's first- and second-most common biopolymers, found in plants and crustacean shells (among other places) respectively. Georgia Tech scientists have now devised a method of combining the two, to produce plastic-like compostable food wrap.
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The Ocean Cleanup’s trash-collecting barriers have been through a number of iterations since their conception around five years ago. The latest cleverly harnesses the power of wind and surface waves to autonomously sweep through the area, gathering up plastic waste as it goes.
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Three years ago, the city of Los Angeles covered the surface of the LA Basin with 96 million shade-providing floating balls, in order to keep the water beneath from evaporating. Now, a new study suggests that the making of the plastic balls may have have used up more water than they saved.
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The Ocean Cleanup Project is edging ever closer to the rollout of its first plastic collection barriers, and is increasingly confident that it can make the journey, with the latest testing indicating that can stand up to stormy ocean conditions.
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A massive whale, constructed out of five tons of reclaimed plastic waste, is currently leaping out of a canal in Belgium. Developed by architecture and design firm STUDIOKCA, the impressive sculpture is designed to bring attention to the immense volumes of plastic waste swimming in our oceans.
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The EU is moving to put the brakes on the problem of plastic pollution. Under proposed new rules that would apply to the entire bloc, it has taken aim at the plastic products most commonly found on its beaches and seas, which together account for 70 percent of the continent’s marine litter.
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As useful as it is, plastic isn’t the most environmentally-friendly material. To try to wean us off it, chemists at Colorado State University have now developed a polymer that apparently has all the benefits, but can be easily broken down and recycled over and over.
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The insidious spread of microplastics through our environment is something that we really don't know enough about. Researchers have now found unexpected quantities of the material lodged in Arctic sea ice, shedding new light on how they move through the ocean.
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