Can The Great Pacific Garbage Patch Clean Itself?

Updated: September 16, 2021 (Originally published March 28, 2013)

We’ve heard it before; the Great Pacific Garbage Patch is a problem for which there is no solution.

It affects the food chain, it fouls beaches, it’s bad for ships, and it will never go away. That is unless you talk to Boyan Slat, first year aerospace engineering student and creator of the Marine Litter Extraction system.

During a recent TEDx talk at his school,  TU Delft in the Netherlands, Boyan detailed his plans for an innovative system that he says is cost effective, sustainable, and has the potential to rid an ocean-wide gyre of plastic – 7.25 million tons to be exact – in just 5 years. Have a listen…. 

So can a zig-zagged array of 24 manta ray-shaped platforms really clean the entire Garbage Patch? We’re not sure, but it’s an idea worth spreading. 

But then again, maybe the “Pacific Garbage Patch” isn’t as much of an issue as we think?

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