Summary/Reader Response Draft #2 - Ocean Cleanup Machine (a)

According to Schiller (2017), the ocean clean-up machine is being designed into reality by a genius boy Boyan Slat. Schiller stated that Slat had set out a massive clean-up project using his vision of the ocean clean-up machine. The article quoted that oceanographer Charles Moore discovered that the Great Pacific Garbage Patch had waste so thick that it forms solid areas one could walk on which was the reason for Slat's initiation. Schiller reported that Slat received criticism and sceptics about the project when he proposed his initial design of a clean-up machine measuring 60 miles long to repair the seabed. Schiller then stated that after Slat made numerous vetting, his new idea was to split his initial design into 50 smaller devices of 0.6 miles each which is a better innovation as it allows the remaining machines to still work if any were to malfunction. Schiller pointed out that although building an individual device is cost-saving and more efficient than a huge clean-up machine, the individual devices require removal maintenance monthly. The article then concluded with Slat's future goal of making use of the waste collected to be recycled into useful materials.

While the ocean clean-up project may add on to oil pollution and carbon emissions, the benefits on the ocean by implementing this initiation and improvising potential counter measures outweighs the negative impact thus far.

The article by Schiller was published in 2017. The prototype back then named "Wilson" was supposed to function independently by clearing up trash along its pathway as the wind blows (Dickie, 2021). Dickie mentioned that this led to a flaw in Wilson as it over-relied on wind to move which causes the prototype to not have a clear direction to steer towards and ultimately broke due to the pressure from ocean current. Dickie then stated that a new prototype named "Jenny" is created which is an improved version of Wilson to overcome its shortcomings.

Jenny works more effectively and has better durability than Wilson. According to Dickie, Jenny is more efficient compared to Wilson as it uses ships to manoeuvre its direction instead of moving by wind. According to another article by Bendix (2021), Jenny is more flexible compared to the Wilson. This allows Jenny to cover a larger surface area. The ocean clean-up machine have evolved from 2017 till 2019. With the evolution of the machine, the benefits from implementing this project is increased as well.

The first benefit of the project lies in its high results in extracting trash from the ocean. In the article "Group extract 63,000 pounds..." , it was stated that Jenny had cleared more than 63,000 pounds of trash within a 3 months cleaning phase. That is an estimated weight of a humpback whale! This goes to show the huge potential of the ocean clean-up machine in the long run. With the amount of trash in the ocean, more large scale projects with the use of this machine are bound to reduce the amount of ocean waste.

The second benefit lies in the prevention of plastics from entering the ocean. The "Interceptor" is capable of preventing plastics from entering the ocean by being deployed at river. (Ocean Cleanup, n.d). According to the director of ocean policy at the Center for American Progress think tank, the best way to help the ocean in reducing its plastic is to first prevent plastic from getting into the ocean (Dickie, 2021). Currently, there is 8 Interceptors deployed around the world (Ocean Cleanup, n.d). According to the article by Ocean Cleanup, under optimal conditions, 50,000kg of plastics can be cleared in a day. This goes to show how much plastic was prevented from entering the ocean. As such, Slat's group will have lesser plastic to deal with from the ocean which will ultimately aid them in their goal of plastic reduction. 

The third benefit lies in the Interceptor's ability to work 24 hours a day. Interceptor does not require any human labour or supervision hence it is able to work 24 hours a day (Ocean Cleanup, n.d). This goes to show that even during wee hours, the machine can continue operating autonomously which will in turn bring about greater results in the same period as compared to a machine which require manual labour. Hence, its ability to work autonomously is definitely a benefit to look out for.

All that being said, the drawback of the ocean clean up project still lies in its reliance of using ships to maneouver Jenny. The ships relies on heavy fuel usage which in turn releases climate-warming greenhouse emissions (Dickie, 2021). The implementation of ships are essential for the machine to have a clear direction on its area to clear. However with the use of ship, fuel consumption is inevitable. This leads to the production of oil pollution and carbon emission for the cause of clearing up trash in the ocean. Hence, it is debatable as to whether the need to reduce trash from the ocean outweighs the production of other forms of pollution.

However, it should be noted that Slat's group is trying to experiment using less-polluting biofuels for the ships (Dickie, 2021). If the introduction of biofuels is approved, alternative improvements to the ocean clean up machine may include the use of a better motor ship. Since the oil pollution and carbon emission problems have been tackled, the implementation of a stronger motor ship will speed up the rate of productivity for the ocean clean up machine and produce greater clean up rate. In all, the ocean clean up project is definitely a notable project with great accomplishments to come in the near future.

Reference :

Schiller, B. (2017, June 30). Boy genius Boyan slat's giant ocean cleanup machine is real. Fast Company. https://www.fastcompany.com/40419899/boy-genius-boyan-slats-giant-ocean-cleanup-machine-is-real

USA Today (2021, October 29). Group extracts 63,000 pounds of trash from the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. https://www.usatoday.com/picture-gallery/news/world/2021/10/29/ocean-cleanup-pulls-trash-great-pacific-garbage-patch/6180821001/

Bendix, A. (2021, October 15) A half-mile installation just took 20,000 pounds of plastic out of the Pacific - proof that ocean garbage can be cleaned. https://www.businessinsider.com/ocean-cleanup-device-removed-plastic-pacific-garbage-patch-2021-10

Ocean Cleanup (n,d). Rivers. https://theoceancleanup.com/rivers/

Dickie, G. (2021, September 16). Ocean Cleanup struggles to fulfill promise to scoop up plastic at sea.  https://www.reuters.com/business/environment/ocean-cleanup-struggles-fulfill-promise-scoop-up-plastic-sea-2021-09-16/