This would be the collector and its barrier in the Pacific Ocean
Created by Dutchman Boyan Slat, The Ocean Cleanup is, simply put, a large floating barrier up to which the garbage carried by the currents reaches . A platform then collects and stores the waste until it is transferred to land by boat, they explain in this video from PlayGround. If it begins to be used, this system would allow the oceans to be cleaned using their own energy.
Now, after two years of work, it has just been deployed in the North Sea, 23 km off the coast of Holland, a prototype of The Ocean Cleanup , they report on their website. It is a 100 meter long barrier with movement, load and GPS sensors that they will transmit information in real time about their suitability and reaction to the environment. In this video you can see how the installation of the prototype was carried out.
In this case, the objective is not garbage collection, but to gather data for a year that allows those responsible for the project refine the system and make it resistant to the conditions it would face when deployed in the North Pacific to undertake the task for which it was created: clean up the Big Garbage Island found in this ocean. It is planned that that time comes in 2020.
Tests and calculations by The Ocean Cleanup team show that a 100km barrier using ocean currents could pick up half of Garbage Island in 10 years and at a lower cost than if it were done with conventional methods (boats and nets) that require more travel and work on the high seas.
Installation of the prototype in the North Sea
Going a little further into the matter, this device acts as an artificial coast in which the waste that arrives there, dragged by sea currents, is concentrated. Instead of using networks, it is made up of solid screens that trap floating plastic, without harming the marine life that follows its course below them.
The booms are anchored to the seabed and at each point in the ocean they will be oriented in such a way that the currents push the plastic towards the center of the device and concentrate it in one place. This process ends in the central collector: It is responsible for extracting and storing the waste until it is transferred by ship to land. Once there, they will be recycled and sold to companies that can reuse them with the aim of This system can be self-financing.
Recreation of the barrier and its collection in the Pacific Ocean