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TOC Aerial Expedition
It is not a question of ‘either cleanup OR prevention,’ it’s cleanup AND prevention.
The North Sea prototype assembled, ready for installation, August 2017.
arctic (Andrés Cózar et al: http:// advances.sciencemag.org/content/3/4/ e1600582) This study clearly shows plastic pollution to be a global issue, but it is important to maintain perspective. The concentrations in the Artic accumulation zone are still 1000x lower than in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. Furthermore, the study suggests that the microplastics in the Artic are coming from the subtropical gyres (i.e. the 5 known garbage patches), thereby making the cleanup of these areas directly relevant for prevention of further pollution in the Arctic.
SF: You have proven that the input of plastic in the patch is greater than the output. Currently, unless we mitigate the sources, this number will continue to rise. Do you believe we can and will ever trend towards prevention of further trash buildup in the ocean? TOC: In conjunction with the previous question, people need to seriously reconsider their use of plastic, especially single use plastic. It is of course essential to first prevent more plastic from reaching the oceans in the first place, but
that is not a solution for the plastics already trapped in the currents of the gyres. It is not a question of ‘either cleanup OR prevention’, it’s cleanup AND prevention. SF: You are about to launch your system on the Great Pacific Garbage Patch and have revealed more hard facts, which include: TOC: We completed the most comprehensive mapping effort of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch to date, and found that plastic pollution in this area is 4-16 times worse than previously thought. By comparing to www.facethecurrent.com
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