Castanet

In less than 10 days, the beginning of the first serious ocean cleanup project will commence.

https://www.theoceancleanup.com/

This project aims to cut ocean garbage by 90% by 2040. It is not taxpayer funded (but is tax-deductible).

As we begin to understand the implications this garbage has, it becomes clear that projects like this are an absolute necessity.

https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/microplastics.html

I'd like to take this moment to remind everyone that we part of the solution. Don't litter, and take some time to clean up litter at least a couple times a year.

Only you can stop the ocean pollution.

Just do a web search on the Great Pacific garbage patch

I would just love to see this idea work....rounding up (lassooing like a cowboy) (four vowels in a row, is this spelled right?) garbage floating on the ocean's surface.

From what I read it looks like they've had problems with the design elements failing and truly hope they get it right soon enough.

In high wave activity won't some, or all, of the trash be washed out and over the lassoo ring?

If successfully brought to shore, then what becomes of the trash...landfills, burn, what? And where?

Does this endeavour have to be an ongoing project far into the future simply because it is so easy to dump garbage overboard, or to throw it into rivers?

The human race is piglike (not meaning to slur real pigs).

In my childhood there used to be a TV ad, government sponsored, that went "litterbug, litterbug, shame on you". Time (over time) to bring it back and re-run.

I am not well travelled having been to only several countries, but can honestly say that Japanese cities and towns are the cleanest I have seen. No trash, cig butts, candy wrappers and other droppings anywhere. They can do it, why can't we? I saw that their trash is burned in huge towers, the heat energy collected and is then contributed to power generation. These towers emit very little "smoke", clean, high temperature burning.

It might not look like much smoke, but if there is plastic in it there are very harmful chemicals released.

dogspoiler wrote:It might not look like much smoke, but if there is plastic in it there are very harmful chemicals released.

Yes, I think the Japanese being so clean and techologically efficient, covered their bases re filtering. These stacks are right in the middle of their cities. The older and less efficient units were shut down when new technology replaced them.

One of these looks like a Disneyland theme park where visitors snap photos. Some of the end materials are used to create an island, habitated vy birds and other wildlife.

Gasification by high temperature burning is very clean. The output generates enough electricity to power the plants with enough left over to sell off-grid. Solid wastes are made into paving bricks and concrete.

https://www.japantimes.co.jp/life/2017/ ... 4w5iutfOrV

https://www.explainthatstuff.com/plasma ... cling.html

This thread concerns ocean cleanup, a laudable idea that we all hope succeeds, but isn't it a better plan to not use the ocean as a trash dump in the first place?

These high tech burners are an answer that are now used in Europe, Asia and I think will be institued in Australia soon. Each North American produces more than 2 kgs of waste daily so no surprise we are running out of landfill areas.

This is not the first. There was a major cleanup in Mumbai. I can't remember exactly what the numbers were but it was around 247 million kg of garbage taken out of the water and off the beaches all by volunteers.

Amazing, isn't it, how little regard humans have for ocean and earth.

I recall being on a Mexican beach about 50 years ago. A young couple were eating off paper plates with plastic forks, drink cups at hand.

When done eating, they put everything down in the sand to be taken away by next high tide.

Who raises these irresponsible people who seemed so well matched in their piggishness? Surely the beach lunchers bred more of the same, their offspring not informed of what trash cans were for.

NEWS FLASH, just now on CBS news .... Showed the corral system with underwater netting to catch the crap that has partially disintegrated and is sinking. The whole thing is free floating and once the noose is closed, will be towed to shore for recycling. A young man is the inventor of this marvel, soon to be launched.

The kid spent years designing and improving on his designs while raising funds to see his dream fulfilled - hopefully everything works as expected and he can get the 60 free-floating barriers in water by 2020.

SAN FRANCISCO— Engineers set to sea Saturday to deploy a trash collection device to corral plastic litter floating between California and Hawaii in an attempt to clean up the world’s largest garbage patch in the heart of the Pacific Ocean.

The 600-metre-long floating boom was being towed from San Francisco to the Great Pacific Garbage Patch — an island of trash twice the size of Texas.

https://www.thestar.com/news/world/2018 ... patch.html

This is a great initiative but the question really is what do you do with everything captured? We have recyclables on land that are stacking up because China won’t take it. We need to stop creating all of this junk, that is the real solution. Us consumers need to quit consuming. And what we do need maybe buy second hand or trade with others.

Catsumi wrote:
The human race is piglike (not meaning to slur real pigs).

We're an infestation. A disease.

I remember saying this in my senior year of high school, how we (as humans) just kill everything in our path and wreck everything on the planet. Then The Matrix came out in 1999 and when Mr. Smith had his monologue, I've never identified with a character so much in my life lol

TreeGuy wrote:This is a great initiative but the question really is what do you do with everything captured? We have recyclables on land that are stacking up because China won’t take it. We need to stop creating all of this junk, that is the real solution. Us consumers need to quit consuming. And what we do need maybe buy second hand or trade with others.

100%

Our biggest problem is consumerism. That is an all inclusive bubble that encompasses other huge problems.

The more we want to buy, use and make... the more garbage we create. The more pollution we make.

If we focused more on FIXING older things, reusing things, trading things, using hand me downs, etc... we wouldn't make so much stuff and we wouldn't throw out so much stuff. We'd also save more money individually. It's a vicious cycle.

Combine that with overpopulation and we're decimating the Earth and animal species

Just to be clear, Ocean Cleanup is but one of many large-scale initiatives the world needs in order to protect the environment. It's not meant to solve all of our issues, just the one of garbage in the ocean. They do plan to recycle what they bring in but of course, even if it goes to a landfill it's doing far less harm than it would be.

I really wish we could do something to stop over packaging. So many items are needlessly encased in plastic that is removed and tossed. A lot of it is plain frustrating to remove and is there for the sole purpose of displaying the product.

TreeGuy wrote:This is a great initiative but the question really is what do you do with everything captured?

One initiative is housing -


There is a village (can't remember where) that uses recycled plastic bags to make yarn and knit market bags, etc. that are sold worldwide.

Catsumi wrote:I really wish we could do something to stop over packaging. So many items are needlessly encased in plastic that is removed and tossed. A lot of it is plain frustrating to remove and is there for the sole purpose of displaying the product.

Well we've made the push from plastic straws wrapped in paper to the more Earth friendly paper straws wrapped in plastic.

lol