Summary/Reader Response Draft #3 - Ocean Clean-Up Machine (a)

According to Schiller (2017), "Boy Genius Boyan Slat's giant ocean clean up machine is real". 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 criticisms 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 adds on to oil pollutions and carbon emissions, the benefits on the ocean by implementing this initiation outweighs the negative impacts.

The article by Schiller was published in 2017. The prototype back then named "Wilson" functions independently by clearing up trash along its pathway as the wind blows (Dickie, 2021). Dickie mentioned that the flaw in Wilson is its over reliance on wind for movement which causes it to not have a specific direction to steer towards and ultimately broke due to the pressure from ocean currents. Dickie then stated that a new prototype named "Jenny" was then created to replace Wilson as the latest operational ocean clean up machine.

The article by Dickie stated that Jenny works more effectively compared to Wilson. Dickie stated that as Jenny uses ships to manoeuvre its direction, it has a clear target area to clean up making it more efficient. According to another article by Bendix (2021), Jenny covers a larger surface area compared to Wilson. The ocean clean-up machine has evolved from 2017 till 2019. With the evolution of the machine, the benefits from implementing this project thus far are highly remarkable.

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 cleared more than 63,000 pounds of trash within a 3 months cleaning phase. That is an estimated weight of a humpback whale! This shows the huge potential of Jenny. With the amount of trash in the ocean, more large-scale projects with the use of Jenny are bound to aid in the reduction of ocean waste. 

The second benefit lies in the prevention of plastics from entering the ocean. Another innovation by the project named "Interceptor" prevents plastics from entering the ocean by being deployed to rivers. (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). The website also stated that under optimal operations, 50,000kg of plastics can be extracted per day. This shows how much plastic was prevented from entering the ocean. As such, Slat's group will have lesser plastic to deal with in the ocean which will ultimately aid their goal of plastic reduction. 

The third benefit lies in Interceptor's ability to work 24 hours a day. Interceptor does not require any human labour or supervision (Ocean Cleanup, n.d). This means that even during wee hours, the machine can continue operating autonomously which will 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 manoeuvre Jenny. The ships rely on heavy fuel usage which in turn releases climate-warming greenhouse emissions (Dickie, 2021). The implementation of ships is essential for the machine to have a target area for better efficiency. However, with the use of ships, fuel consumption is inevitable. This leads to the production of oil pollution and carbon emission for the cause of clearing up trash. Hence it is debatable whether the need to reduce trash outweighs the production of other forms of pollution.

However, it should be noted that Slat's group is experimenting using less-polluting biofuels for their ships (Dickie, 2021). If the introduction of biofuels is approved, alternative improvements to Jenny may include the use of a better motor ship. Since the oil pollution and carbon emission problems have been tackled, Slat's group can afford to improve Jenny. The implementation of stronger motor ships can speed up the rate of productivity for Jenny as it can move faster to clear the same area as before. In all, the ocean clean-up project is definitely a notable project with great accomplishments to come in the near future.

References:

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/