A Way to Cleaner World, From Molecule to Metropolis !

The Great Pacific Garbage Patch will soon start shrinking. In October, The Ocean Cleanup, a nonprofit foundation based in the Netherlands, floated out and installed System 001 (nicknamed Wilson), to remove some of the rubbish floating on or just below the ocean’s surface. The patch of 1.8 trillion pieces of plastic, which lies halfway between Hawaii and California, is roughly twice the size of Texas. System 001 is a 600-meter floating pipe, deployed in a U-shape, with a 3m-deep skirt. Without human intervention, once deployed, it takes advantage of three natural oceanic forces—wind, waves and currents—to travel faster than the plastic, which it then catches. “After 60 of these systems are deployed, they’ll reduce the area’s plastic by 50 per cent within five years,” says Bruno Sainte-Rose, computational modeler for The Ocean Cleanup.

Modeling software was instrumental in designing System ::

While some dangers unfold in seconds, others mount over time. Back in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, the plastic is breaking down, creating smaller pieces that are more challenging to capture. “If they’re not cleaned up soon, they’ll continue to break down into smaller pieces,” warns Erika Traskvik, manager of digital communications for The Ocean Cleanup. “They can more easily be mistaken as food for sea life and can even end up on our plates.”

Advanced simulation can lead to innovative environmental solutions. “Our hope is that, with technology, we can reverse the problem of having so much plastic debris in the ocean,” says Sainte-Rose, “and make an impact on a brighter future.”