Floating barrier will collect marine litter

Efforts are currently being made to clean up the world's marine litter, but what Marine Ocean Cleanup is testing may be the simplest and most ambitious plan. It just launched a 328-foot long prototype marine floating barrier that will collect garbage. If it can adapt to the harsh conditions of the waters, the plan is to deploy a 62-mile-long barrier in the Pacific Ocean, reducing the size of the infamous Pacific Garbage Belt, hoping to halve the waste dumps in 10 years.

Is it an ideal solution? The 6.6-foot deep design should not interfere with wildlife (different from existing networks) and is designed to continue until a vicious storm. However, the University of Hawaii's Jeffrey Drazen warns that American science is a huge obstacle, as it may be confused with the distribution of animals in the area. In addition, surface contamination is only part of a bigger problem. We only really get rid of marine litter when we avoid putting it in the first place. For biodegradable materials, better recycling may ultimately be the key.