“After three years extracting plastic waste from the notorious Great Pacific Garbage Patch, an environmental nonprofit says it can finish the job within a decade, with a price tag of several billion dollars,” reports the Los Angeles Times:
Twice the size of Texas, the mass of about 79,000 metric tons of plastic floating in the Pacific Ocean between California and Hawaii is growing at an exponential pace, according to researchers. At current levels, the cleanup would take a decade with a price tag of $7.5 billion, the Netherlands-based Ocean Cleanup said in a press release, announcing the group’s intention to eliminate the garbage patch entirely. However, computer models suggest a more aggressive approach could complete the job in just five years and cost $4 billion.
The cleanup vessels deploy enormous u-shaped floating barriers to funnel trash toward a focal point where it can then be loaded aboard and brought to shore….In their three years at sea, the Ocean Cleanup vessels have removed more than a million pounds of trash, representing 0.5% of the total accumulation….the Ocean Cleanup has deployed trash interceptors in waste-ridden outlets to the world’s oceans, including one in Marina del Rey. That device kept about 77 tons of trash from entering the Pacific.
Most plastic in the ocean comes from China, India, and Indonesia, while only a tiny percentage comes from the U.S.
Scientists have discovered fungus that can eat plastics in bodies of water, without needing any other food source, reports The Independent.
According to a 2015 study published in Environmental Science and Technology, plastic is biodegradable. “Plastic….might have met its match: the small, brownish, squirmy mealworm. Researchers have learned that the mealworm can live on a diet of Styrofoam and other types of plastic. Inside the mealworm’s gut are microorganisms that are able to biodegrade polyethylene, a common form of plastic.”
Plastic-choked rivers in Ecuador are being cleared using a system of conveyor belts that collect up to 80 tons of trash per day. Robot boats have begun to clean up Asia’s rivers and coasts, which contain lots of plastic trash.
Plastic bags are less than 1% of all litter. Moreover, alternatives like cloth and paper bags are in many cases worse for the environment than plastic bags, and far worse for public health. That was illustrated by a 2011 legal settlement between plastic bag makers and an importer of reusable bags, ChicoBag. Some places have banned ban grocery stores from giving customers plastic bags. They hope shoppers will use reusable cloth bags instead. But as Daniel Frank sarcastically noted, “Reusable tote bags” can “cause food poisoning but at least they’re worse for the environment than plastic bags.” He cites Jon Passantino of BuzzFeed News, who observed, “Those cotton tote bags that are so trendy right now have to be used *131 times* before it has a smaller climate impact than a plastic bag used only once.”
