The infamous Pacific Trash Vortex (the vast accumulation of waste, largely plastic waste, floating in the Pacific, which we have already talked about on this website) is back in the headlines thanks to an idea by Boyan Slat, a nineteen-year-old Dutch aerospace engineering student. Slat believes that the circular ocean currents could be exploited in order to clear away the vortex (which covers an area ranging from 700 thousand to 10 million square kilometres).
The Ocean Cleanup Array – this is the name of the system designed by the young engineer –  project envisages the use of a  fleet of energy self-sufficient platforms equipped with enormous floating arms that would force the plastic waste in the direction of the platforms. Here, it would be separated from plankton, filtered and stored in containers for recycling. The use of rods, instead of nets, should avoid the risk of trapping aquatic fauna, as the movement of the arms, guided by the currents, would be slow enough to allow animals time to escape.
"We estimate that if we were to sell the plastic recovered from the five vortices, we would have more revenue than costs. If this solution were implemented", Slat says, "it could save thousands of marine animals and reduce the presence of pollutants (polychlorinated biphenyls and DDT) in the food chain".