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The role of technology in the fight to stop marine pollution

  • Writer: Conor O'Farrelly
    Conor O'Farrelly
  • Feb 28, 2020
  • 3 min read

Pollution is one of the biggest problems facing our generation today. This is especially prevalent around our oceans. An estimated 150 million tons of plastics clog our oceans, harming marine life and damaging fragile and vulnerable ecosystems (oceanconservancy.org, 2020). Some scientists even suggest that by 2050 there will be more plastics in the ocean than fish. That is such a terrifying thought to even contemplate, and the horror is reinforced when you see pictures of turtles with straws in their noses and sea life washing up with their stomachs full of plastic.


Thankfully measures are being taken to counteract any further spread of pollution and the catastrophic, devastating effects that it has. Technology and information systems are a key part of this war on pollution, and in this article, we are going to talk about some of the foremost initiatives in this field.


One of the best-known solutions to the oceanic pollution crisis is that of The Ocean Cleanup. Led by their inspirational 22-year-old Boyan Slat, this company has come with a revolutionary new system for collecting rubbish across the ocean. The company analysed ocean currents and realised that the major flows across the oceans collect rubbish in various concentrated locations. With this in mind they came to the ingenious idea to use floating screens to “sweep up” rubbish across the ocean to be then collected by ship and transported away for recycling. Their aim is to collect up to 50% of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch in the next five years (The Ocean Cleanup, 2020). This is an incredible goal to aim for and their diligence and motivation to change the world for the better is something that we can all aim to emulate.


Another company at the forefront of the prevention and solution of marine pollution is the Seabin Project. The have created a floating bin for use in sheltered areas such as marinas and harbours. This is an especially useful invention as the bins can capture up to 3.9kg of rubbish per day before it gets swept out to sea (The Seabin Project, 2020). As these sheltered hotspots will inevitably create a lot of rubbish due to the large volume of people in such a close proximity, the Seabin will allow more of a preventative measure be taken in order to stem the flow of rubbish out into the wider oceans.


Both the initiatives mentioned above take a very direct approach to clearing rubbish from the oceans. Another company, however, has decided to do something slightly different with the same end result in mind. Recycling Technologies has acknowledged that current plastic recycling technologies are not adequately developed to cater for the vast amounts of plastics used in the world today and that because of this, a significant amount of plastics intended to be recycled end up in landfill or the ocean. They are currently developing a technology that will allow plastics to be converted to other products such as burnable fuel or wax that can be used for cosmetics.


As you can see there are some incredible strides being made in the are of waste reduction and collection. These steps forward should be recognised and acknowledged for the incredible contributions they are making in order to help the environment. These small steps alone, however, are not enough. We must all do more in our daily lives to help solve this problem or else the efforts of these special few listed above will be in vain and our oceans will become even more polluted than they already are.


References

oceanconservancy.org, 2020. Plastics in the Ocean. [Online] Available at: https://oceanconservancy.org/trash-free-seas/plastics-in-the-ocean/ [Accessed 24 February 2020].


The Ocean Cleanup, 2020. Cleaning up the Garbage Patches. [Online] Available at: https://theoceancleanup.com/oceans/ [Accessed 22 February 2020].


The Seabin Project, 2020. Seabin V5. [Online] Available at: https://seabinproject.com/the-seabin-v5/ [Accessed 22 February 2020].

 
 
 

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