Plastic pollution in our seas

[Emerald Sea]

This amazing team have developed a method to cleaning up the Great Pacific Garbage Patch and they have the funding and well on their way. I understand they are mobilizing vessels for the clean up in 2018 out of San Fran.

https://www.theoceancleanup.com

https://www.theoceancleanup.com/technology/

[cyan]

Originally Posted by Emerald Sea

This amazing team have developed a method to cleaning up the Great Pacific Garbage Patch and they have the funding and well on their way. I understand they are mobilizing vessels for the clean up in 2018 out of San Fran.

https://www.theoceancleanup.com

https://www.theoceancleanup.com/technology/

Thanks for posting that!

[Polux]

Originally Posted by SV DestinyAscen

Guess your response answers my question.

"It is not only the education but the education and the mindset. It is clear for me that we have to change (y)our living paradigm. We cannot continue living the way we live. "

It took time but I guess that I see why you got upset....with no reason. You could have seen easely that the y on (y)our is a typo error. Nothing on that post would make sense if that word was yours. It was obvious that I was referring to me and all.

Originally Posted by Polux

It is not only the education but the education and the mindset. It is clear for me that we have to change (y)our living paradigm. We cannot continue living the way we live.

The news is that that thought 10 years ago would make most laugh and now most educated people take that seriously and industrialized countries stated to take serious measures.

.....

[Gadagirl]

Originally Posted by Diesel Bill

A few years ago I saw a video of a Japanese inventor who developed a machine that could recycle plastic back into oil. I thought it was a wonderful devise. I don't know whatever happened with it. Seems like we really need this technology now more than ever.
Back in 2007 we took the ferry (Philppina Princess) from Manilla P.I. to Surigao. The waters in Manilla Bay were so polluted with plastic bags it looked like more plastic than water. I don't know how they avoided plugging the heat exchangers with all the bags.

A quick google search (plastic to energy) reveals.......

https://www.google.com/search?client....0.X43Zw8sHS-k

Waste-to-Energy | Waste360

Converting Plastic to Oil

I'm sure there are many others. I agree education is foremost. We should also be asking our local politicians to implement some of these waste to energy technologies locally. It could offset not only landfill costs but also local energy costs. Nothing wrong with having a regulation that can return savings to it's tax payers. Ahhhh but I dream!

[Robert Tilbury]

This is the factory next to my house , every week they put there bin out like this ,,, i have told them over and over that the gutters go straight into the SHOALHAVEN RIVER ,
they dont care ,, our waterway brings tourists in to the area ,but they dont care ,,
Im sick of picking there rubbish up from the road ,,
This is a government funded sheltered workshop , the managers should be fixing this >>>

[Paul Elliott]

Originally Posted by Emerald Sea

This amazing team have developed a method to cleaning up the Great Pacific Garbage Patch and they have the funding and well on their way. I understand they are mobilizing vessels for the clean up in 2018 out of San Fran.

https://www.theoceancleanup.com

https://www.theoceancleanup.com/technology/

I predict that if deployed in the N Pacific Gyre, the biological by-catch of this design will exceed any captured plastic. There is a huge amount of floating and near-surface animal and plant life out there in the gyre region (and elsewhere), which this system will catch and kill. From what I've read about the testing that's been done, the developers seem to be deliberately ignoring or downplaying this problem.

Perhaps it will work well enough in the heavily polluted areas near shore (that we see in the publicity photos), but they apparently intend this to be deployed in the gyre where the concentrations are completely different.

[seidulas]

Originally Posted by Paul Elliott

I predict that if deployed in the N Pacific Gyre, the biological by-catch of this design will exceed any captured plastic. There is a huge amount of floating and near-surface animal and plant life out there in the gyre region (and elsewhere), which this system will catch and kill. From what I've read about the testing that's been done, the developers seem to be deliberately ignoring or downplaying this problem.

Perhaps it will work well enough in the heavily polluted areas near shore (that we see in the publicity photos), but they apparently intend this to be deployed in the gyre where the concentrations are completely different.

From their technology page, the floater is more of a barricade than netting. So marine life will not be caught. Near-surface animal will be able to swim away in the event that they are "collected" by the floater since the garbage are not tightly pack together but rather being push against the floater by sea current or the wind.

Wonder how they gonna deal with storm at sea. The whole system and garbage could be easily wash away during a heavy storm. Plus rather than a 5 years target that they set, I think its should be use forever since there will always be trash in the water.

[aye-aye-captain]

Originally Posted by Emerald Sea

This amazing team have developed a method to cleaning up the Great Pacific Garbage Patch and they have the funding and well on their way. I understand they are mobilizing vessels for the clean up in 2018 out of San Fran.

https://www.theoceancleanup.com

https://www.theoceancleanup.com/technology/

Thanks for those links !

EDIT : typo

[Polux]

Originally Posted by Gadagirl

....
I'm sure there are many others. I agree education is foremost. We should also be asking our local politicians to implement some of these waste to energy technologies locally. It could offset not only landfill costs but also local energy costs. Nothing wrong with having a regulation that can return savings to it's tax payers. Ahhhh but I dream!

Unfortunately in what regards education it will only touch some while others will continue to pollute. That is immoral, unfair and will not resolve the problem.

Sure education it is important to create the means that will allow politicians to take measures that effectively resolve the situation and to make most citizens ablle to understand and accept the necessity of those measures.

The only efective measures are the ones that will make more expensive the use of non renewable plastics than the use of other materials and that can only be obtained with taxes over them. The money from those taxes should be used to create a fund to recycle the plastics that are already polluting the planet.

A parallel can be made with fossil combustibles and combustion engines: they are by far the cheapest way to create energy. It will not be possible to educate people not to use them and instead use a more expensive way to provide energy.

Their use can only be prevented through taxes (they already exist today) that made their use less competitive than other more expensive ways of production energy or even by a prohibition for certain uses. It will not take many years for them to be forbidden on the center of many major cities and just some more years for a major ban on their use.

The same happens already with plastic bags that in some countries are taxed. It is just a question of increase those tax in value and to more products that use plastic (for instance bottles) to create viable alternatives with other materials.

With education alone we will not arrive there.

[lordgeoff]

Originally Posted by SV DestinyAscen

You're calling fake news despite the OP saying he observed that conditions in the red Sea was not good and you selfadmitting your exp limited to tunesia?

reread my post.....

[Paul Elliott]

Originally Posted by seidulas

From their technology page, the floater is more of a barricade than netting. So marine life will not be caught. Near-surface animal will be able to swim away in the event that they are "collected" by the floater since the garbage are not tightly pack together but rather being push against the floater by sea current or the wind.

Wonder how they gonna deal with storm at sea. The whole system and garbage could be easily wash away during a heavy storm. Plus rather than a 5 years target that they set, I think its should be use forever since there will always be trash in the water.

Near-surface animal will be able to swim away

The critters I am thinking about can't really swim. They mostly float or drift. Look up "Velella velella". In the calm waters of the Gyre region you can literally see millions of these creatures floating around -- one per square meter out to the horizon at times. And there are lots of jellies and other small things floating within a foot of the surface. I've spent many hours out there staring into the water as we ghost by in light air, and the variety is amazing. I doubt many of them would survive a close encounter with a debris "barricade".

One time we were in the Pacific High / gyre, and a new crew member was complaining about all the plastic trash floating out there. We asked him to show us and he pointed to a field of Velella. We had to catch one in a bucket before he would admit that it wasn't a piece of plastic.


Stop this garbage at the source. Once it gets out to the deep sea it's too late for any practical solution.

[xriss]

My first post on the forum folks...& a very poignant one at that hope future post will be somewhat less sombre...thanks.

https://www.facebook.com/bbc/videos/10156144632886108/

[Pete7]

Welcome to CF.

This has been discussed before on CF so do please feel free to have a read of the previous threads.

The good news is I think the majority of members on CF are actually aware of the problem as we see the junk whilst out on the water.

However, this may not be the normal problem of people just not caring but down to the fact that two major hurricanes seriously damaged the Caribbean and Southern Florida in quick succession last Autumn.

Pete

[GordMay]

Greetings and welcome aboard the CF, xriss.

[GTom]

The topic is actively discussed here - and of course well known to all sea-going fellows:

http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...as-195833.html