The amount collected is only a fraction of the plastic waste that is constantly piling up in the Pacific Ocean’s waste vortex.
In a six-day operation, the Dutch environmental organization raised a total of more than 145,000 kilograms of plastic waste in the Pacific Ocean in October. The single largest cargo was more than 10,000 kilograms, The Ocean Cleanup organization says on Twitter.
The video shot by the organization shows how bulk goods such as barrels and plastic baskets roll onto the ship’s deck from a net lifted from the sea.
The catch was taken from the Great Pacific Garbage Patch in the North Pacific. It is estimated that there is a total of 2.41 million kilograms of plastic waste in the vortex.
Its area is estimated at 1.6 million square kilometers, which is up to three times larger than the French state.
The 10,000 kilograms collected in the latest operation is therefore about 0.4 percent of all the waste floating in the vortex. The number is growing all the time.
Founded in 2013, The Ocean Cleanup has raised millions of dollars to finance its activities from both individuals and large corporations such as Coca-Cola.
The organization uses two vessels for the cleaning work, between which a net more than 500 meters wide has been strung. The net runs along the surface of the water and is open at the bottom so that the seafood does not get caught in it.
In 2019, the method was said to be able to collect half of the material accumulated in the waste vortex in just five years. The costs were said to be a fraction of the costs caused by other methods.