Goodbye for now... and surfing entrepreneurs

Unfortunately, at least for now, it is time to bring my blog to a close. It has been something I have greatly enjoyed doing and I hope readers have learnt something new along the way, as I know I certainly have. I decided that I would like to end my blog by once again returning to the surfing entrepreneurs. In particular, Peter Ceglinski, the managing director of The Seabin Project. Whilst writing this blog I got in touch with him and was lucky enough to get a response. The question I decided to ask him was: "From your experience of being out at sea cleaning up ocean waste, how big do you think the problem is, and do you think we, as humans, are currently going in the right direction to reduce this problem or is far more action needed?" The answer I received was as follows…

“My personal belief is that we are in the exact position that we need to be in right now for a cleaner future. The problem we all have created is huge! The size of the problem is directly related with our limited understanding of plastics, our throw away culture and excessive consumer habits. Human nature seems to always go from one extreme to another as we learn from our mistakes, and right now I feel we are in a transitional period and are moving into the problem solving moment.

We all can do a lot to help also. From positive action like picking up litter from the streets, consuming less and reusing products again. There is a lot of groups doing ‘passive action’ by way of studying the problem, this helps us all learn in many ways, however we need positive action also, real hands on stuff... physically doing something.”

I was grateful for his response and I feel it touched upon much of what we have explored throughout this blog. It is very true that we have created a huge problem in the form of marine pollution, but it is not a problem too great to solve. Peter perhaps takes a more optimistic stance than others might, saying we are in the exact position we need to be in to enact a cleaner future, believing we are entering the ‘problem solving movement’. It remains the case that there is much to be done, but I do hope Peter is right in his assumptions, and I believe this blog has shown his opinion to be true at least to some degree.

For anyone following this blog, I thank you for your interest, with one particular question from a reader sticking out in the memory, pulling me up on the fact that it is “the (not our) sea”. I’ve stuck by what I thought was a catchy name for my blog, but it is absolutely correct that it is not ‘our’ sea, but that of the Earth, so we must do our best to take care of it. Hopefully now, in the coming weeks and months, we will start to see more positive updates regarding marine pollution. Goodbye for now and Merry Christmas.

      

The Ocean Cleanup

Last week I explored some potential solutions, particularly concentrating on methods that focus on preventing further pollution of the ocean. Today, as promised, I'll be looking at one example of positive action - taking out of the sea the waste that is already in it. This is in part due to the fact that I have found myself quite often in this blog referring to things as 'a good start', or 'a step in the right direction'. Maybe I have been saying those words a bit too much. My intention is not to take anything away from steps in the right direction, and good starts are always vital, but it is sometimes nice to see some real positive progress taking place, and on a large scale. So this particular post is dedicated to what could perhaps the most promising initiative of this kind - The Ocean Cleanup.

Before exploring the ins and outs of how The Ocean Cleanup works, lets first introduce its founder, Boyan Slat. Now a 22 year old Dutch entrepreneur, Slat dropped out of his Aerospace Engineering degree in 2013 in order to devote all of his time and efforts to the Cleanup program. Since which time he, along with his invention, has received a variety of prestigious accolades. In 2015, he became the youngest ever person to receive the highest environmental honour given out by the UN: Champion of the Earth. In that same year, The Ocean Cleanup was given the Innovation by Design award from Fast Company, and was listed as one of the best 25 inventions by Time Magazine. The short video below shows Slat talking about what brought him to where he is now, describing how the revolutionary idea was first conceived during one of his high school science projects! 

As he alludes to in this short video, the motto by which The Ocean Cleanup lives is "Why move through the ocean, if the ocean can move through you". This unique principle is what perhaps sets this initiative apart from any other solutions out there. The idea of cleaning up the oceans has previously been seen as next to impossible - the amount of time and money it would take for ships to do the job would almost make it counterproductive. However, the idea of the rubbish coming to you, so long as you place your 'bin' in the right position, seems slightly more doable, and this is essentially what The Ocean Cleanup does. Giant V-shaped arrays, stretching up to hundreds of metres long, are placed in the sea at locations where the waste is believed to be concentrating due to ocean currents. The V shape is what allows the waste to then be directed towards a central collection point - from there it can be periodically removed and stored safely on land. Figure 1 below shows how the array aims to catch debris floating in ocean gyres. 

Ocean Cleanup array (Source)

In a method that involves letting the waste come to you, it is therefore imperative that you have a detailed understanding of exactly where these giant ocean currents are taking the waste. Last year, the Ocean Cleanup carried out its 'Mega Expedition' in order to do exactly that. This particular project, the largest ever of its kind, was focused on the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, arguably the most notorious collection of waste on the planet. Marine biologist, Serena Cunsolo, described their observations as "devastating to see" after joining the team for the expedition. The estimated cost of tackling the patch is a proposed €4.53 per kg of waste, €317 million in total, according to a feasibility study by Slat et al. (2014). The study suggests that with the implementation of a 100 km long array in the North Pacific, the garbage patch could be reduced by 42% in as little as 10 years. 

However, it is key to note that these feasibility studies were carried out by the founders of the Ocean Cleanup program themselves, but those looking in from the outside may propose a different view. For example, studies by Sherman and Sebille (2016) suggest concentrating efforts in nearshore areas will be a far more efficient way of cleaning up the ocean, as oppose to placing these arrays hundreds of miles out to sea. They believe that attempting to clear up the Great Pacific Garbage Patch is a distraction from the 'real problem' which is the current input of waste into the ocean. Furthermore, despite constant rebuttals from Slat, some scientists have proposed an ecological impact on marine life, as well as suggesting that Slat has underestimated the forces of waves and currents out at sea. Despite scepticism from some, having raised over $2 million so far to help fund the project, the team placed their 100 m long prototype in the North Sea earlier this year. The main goal is to then be able to start the clean up of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch in 2020. 

Whether you believe efforts should be concentrated on the inputs, or you think that this particular initiative is the biggest sign of progress so far, I feel the whole problem is ultimately summed up perfectly by Rochman (2016). Using the analogy of a burst pipe in her basement, she describes how she would turn off the source of the water, but certainly wouldn't leave a puddle sat in her house either. In essence, stopping the waste at source is crucial, but clearing up what waste has already been created sure can't be a bad idea either.

Government officials... or maybe not

As I referred to surfing entrepreneurs in my opening blog post, I also mentioned government officials as a possible source of solutions. It is certainly the case that some policies can be adopted to help mitigate the problem of marine pollution, such as the proposed ban on microbeads in cosmetics. Furthermore, regulations on the use of harmful substances, such as pesticides, can be applied to try and reduce the effect of chemical pollution in coastal areas. And so it is in this way that governments can be an effective way of addressing the issue of marine pollution. However, when it comes to other sources of waste, or the clean up of that which has already made it to sea, it is a seemingly more difficult area. Plastics and other debris are accumulating in 5 ocean gyres around the world, and these span international waters. So, with which country does the responsibility lie to get out there and clean it all up? That's the dilemma. The video below, produced by NASA, shows exactly how this waste is accumulating all over the world - ignore the questionable pronunciation of 'buoy'.

The problem surrounding governance is something pointed out by Visbeck et al. (2014), who note the shortcomings of international law regarding the regulatory structure set out across the ocean. This has led to calls being made for governments to develop and agree on new sustainable development goals concerning the condition of the ocean. However, the lack of such an arrangement thus far is what has spurred independent organisations on to take the lead in exploring possible solutions. Cleaning up the vast expanse of the ocean may be a daunting task, but reducing the current input is certainly manageable, and might well be the most feasible answer. 'Garbage tracking' studies carried out by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology propose one potential starting point. These involve the tracking of waste to see both the journey it takes, and where it eventually accumulates. This particular study is used to gather information about the current management of waste in the US, in a bid to use that information to influence the way people recycle. However, Sigler (2014) notes how this could be an effective technique to use on marine plastics - following their journey to identify the areas most vulnerable to them.

Another tracking-based method involves the use of potentially millions of fieldwork assistants... us! Yes, that could include you. This particular initiative involves anyone and everyone who comes across waste, either at the coast or throughout waterways, checking-in their location when they do so. It is referred to as the Marine Debris Tracker mobile application, and is the product of a combined effort by the NOAA Marine Debris Program and the Southeast Atlantic Marine Debris Initiative. This method facilitates the constant collection of data, including the location, and type, of marine debris that people are finding. This allows for what could be an extremely detailed observation of exactly where the debris seems to be concentrating. Studies showed this method to have accounted for the tracking of over 400,000 items... and that was a year ago. Whilst this does not necessarily involve any official clean up component, establishing the location of the waste is a necessary start.

Marine Debris Tracker app (Source)

In my 'How does it get there' post, I acknowledged how developing countries are responsible for a considerable amount of waste input into the sea. This is due to the fact that many of them are host to rapidly growing economies and populations. This in turn has given rise to an increasing consumption of goods, without the appropriate waste management infrastructure to cope. This is not to lay the blame on these countries, but to simply point out that they pose a problem that needs addressing. The UN has identified education as a key component of helping improve the management of waste in these countries - teaching the public the importance of appropriate garbage disposal. It is proposed that officials can then be put in place to monitor this in the long run. 

Promisingly, studies have suggested that the sustainable management of waste is a very feasible possibility for developing countries. This is based on the concept of Integrated Sustainable Waste Management (ISWM). In many developing nations, people can benefit economically from waste, and these people would be referred to as stakeholders in this case. The municipality in this scenario is responsible for the cleanliness of the city, as well as the citizens inhabiting it. In short, ISWM attempts to unify all stakeholders in both financial and environmental interests, under the guidance of the municipality. The studies proposed that ISWM is a method which has seen the improvement of both the controlled disposal of waste as well as recycling.

Today I have explored some possible means by which we might reduce the input of waste into the sea. As mentioned previously, going out into the ocean to try and tackle the vast volume of debris that has already accumulated there seems a daunting task. The ocean is over 350 million square kilometres in size, not to mention the 5 trillion pieces of trash that are estimated to be floating around in it. However, next up in my blog I will explore what very well could be a way of cleaning up the ocean. Daunting as it may be, there is a whole lot of waste posing a threat to the wildlife and ecosystems already out there, so getting rid of that could well be as important as stopping additional inputs.