Floating Booms are Temporary Solution to Ocean Plastic Pollution

The amount of plastic waste keeps piling up every minute of the day. Many efforts have been made to rid the planet of the toxic effects of this non-biodegradable material. Sometime ago, floating boom devices were developed and operated by The Ocean Cleanup, to remove the ocean plastic.

Designed to be positioned in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, it was claimed that these floating barriers can collect plastic waste on the surface and bring it back to shore. However, a new study has revealed that one of the more publicized solutions in floating trash-collection barriers are unlikely to tackle the overall problem.

Floating booms provide a temporary solution to ocean plastic problem | Image: The New York Times

The study was carried out by scientists in the UK and Germany and emphasizes only on floating plastic. The team developed a model to evaluate the total amount of floating plastics both current and into the future, based on how much waste ends up in the oceans through river systems and mishandled landfills.

Also Read: Ocean Cleanup Interceptor to Clean 1000 Polluted Rivers Globally in Five Years

Many scientists have already had doubts over the practicality of using large floating booms to collect floating plastic, signifying that it would have a minimum impact, especially considering the huge amounts of waste that end up in the ocean.

Thereafter, the scientists explored how waste-collecting devices like a floating barrier can reduce the amount of plastic waste in the oceanic waters. The study concluded that deploying 200 floating booms for 130 years without downtime would barely contribute to the reduction of ocean plastic. It will only reduce the floating plastic debris by 44,900 metric tonnes – which is just 5 percent.

The plastic pollution nemesis can be dealt with, but a thinking brain tank and stringent actions are required to tackle this massive problem.

Via: New Atlas