Hundreds of Times More Plastic Than Life on Ocean Surface : VIDEO: Behind the Scenes as Ocean Cleanup Bids to Tackle Plastic Marine Waste
US public service broadcaster, PBS, has published a short film looking at the latest developments from Ocean Cleanup.
The organisation is conducting an experiment to rid the world’s waters of plastic waste, beginning with its first demonstration barrier 14 miles off the coast of the Netherlands.
“It’s a perfect day to install a barrier,” Boyan Slat, the poject’s founder told PBS. “We’ve been working on this for quite a few years, and actually having something physical in the ocean that you can see work.”
“Ultimately, I hope that we can get to a future where the oceans are clean again,” he continued. “I would say that I think within 10 years from now, we would already be really close to getting clean oceans again, and perhaps in 20, 30 years, I think the oceans can be like they were in perhaps the 1950s, before we were using plastic at this scale.”
PBS reporter, Saskia De Melker noted that the estimated 9 million tonnes of waste plastic entering world’s oceans every year would be enough to fill an area the size of a football stadium to a height of 23 miles (37km).
The film also highlights the damage this waste plastic is doing to the ecosystem as it gets eaten by fish and marine animals, which then absorb many of the harmful chemicals they contain.
It also explained how the research being done into the polluting of the food chain now is just the tip of the iceberg. The results do not reflect the true damage being done today, rather the damage already done in a less wasteful, less polluting past.
“What we’re doing now we might feel in a few decades to come,” Julia Reisser Ocean Clean up’s lead oceanographer warned.
The 10 minute report can be viewed below.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fDHuPjx0aPQ]
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