SINGAPORE — After a series of setbacks, a device which includes a 600m-long floating tube designed to pick up plastic debris floating in the ocean has worked for the first time, according to its Dutch inventor.

Mr Boyan Slat, who founded non-profit organisation The Ocean Cleanup, announced via Twitter on Wednesday (Oct 2) that his floating device is skimming up waste ranging from “one-ton ghost nets to tiny microplastics”.

Ghost nets are abandoned fishing nets and microplastics are defined as plastic particles under 5mm in size.

WHAT IS THIS DEVICE?

The Ocean Cleanup system collects plastic as it floats along the ocean currents between California and Hawaii.

This area is where a large amount of ocean plastic has accumulated and is also widely known as the “Great Pacific Garbage Patch”.

Rubbish collected using the Ocean Cleanup system. Photo: The Ocean Cleanup

HOW DOES IT WORK?

• The free-floating system has a 600m-long curved floating tube that acts like a floating barrier. It moves along with the wind and waves, collecting any floating plastic and other rubbish.

• A parachute floating on the ocean and serving as an anchor holds together the two ends of the curved floating tube and slows it down, allowing rubbish to collect near the floating barrier.

• The combination of natural forces and the sea anchor creates a drag, which makes the system move consistently slower than the plastic, thus allowing the plastic to be captured.

• Every few weeks, a support vessel arrives to collect the accumulated debris for recycling.

• A 3m skirt is attached below the floating tube to allow marine life to pass underneath unharmed by the device.

WHY IS THE INVENTION IMPORTANT?

Plastics are cluttering up the ocean on a massive scale.

A 2016 WEF study said that plastics are entering the oceans at the rate of one rubbish truck every minute. At this rate, it estimates there will be more plastics than fish in the ocean by 2050.

Much of this plastic comes directly from sources on land, according to the Smithsonian Institute. It quoted a 2015 study which assessed that plastic waste management — from 2010 data — found that there is on average eight million metric tonnes of plastic that enters the ocean from land every year, but that the actual amount could vary between 4.8 and 12.7 million metric tonnes.

In addition, plastic items, once out in the sea, do not usually remain in large sizes.

Plastic waste breaks down in the ocean over time into microplastics. These tiny particles are not only hard to collect, but they are ingested by a range of marine creatures, eventually ending up in the human food chain.

CAN SINGAPORE BENEFIT FROM SUCH A TOOL?

Singapore is no stranger to plastic pollution. TODAY earlier reported that plastic trash can be found along Singapore’s coastlines and the waters surrounding the island.

While the Ocean Cleanup system is a good initiative to counter the problem of ocean plastic pollution, Ms Sam Shu Qin, 30-year-old co-founder of Our Singapore Reefs, said that implementing such a system in Singapore waters could be challenging due to the unique marine landscape here.

Our Singapore Reefs is a local non-profit organisation which regularly organises reef cleanups.

Firstly, the system, due to its size, requires a lot of space to function.

“The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is a good location to deploy such a large scale autonomous floating device as there are not a lot of vessels, and the sea is generally clear of boats,” Ms Sam said.

However, Singapore is home to one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes, so implementing such a device might be difficult here, added Ms Sam.

Similarly, Mr Mark Ko, executive director of Tian San Shipping, a harbour craft operator that has been contracted to clean up Singapore’s waters, said that “while the system is an innovative idea for the sea”, it might not be feasible in Singapore where there are thousands of vessels plying waters near the port.

The tool also attempts to create a “coastline in the ocean” to trap plastic trash, but it might not be necessary in Singapore as “we’re already near the coastline”.

In addition, Ms Sam said that from her experience collecting trash in waters around Singapore, “floating trash is also quite sparse and can fluctuate depending on the season”.

The marine environment in Singapore is also very different from that of the Pacific Ocean, said Ms Sam.

“Such a system might end up catching a lot more suspended solids or particles in (Singapore’s) sedimented water that could hinder floating debris collection,” she said.

“Additional time and effort would also be required to sort out the materials collected before disposal on land.”

AMBITIOUS PROJECT TO CLEAN UP THE OCEAN

Nevertheless, the Ocean Cleanup system is regarded as a significant contribution to efforts to tackle the vast swathes of debris in the Pacific Ocean.

The system was invented by 25-year-old Dutch entrepreneur Boyan Slat, who founded The Ocean Cleanup in 2013.

The Ocean Cleanup's team now consists of more than 80 engineers, researchers, scientists and computational modellers working daily to rid the world's oceans of plastic.

The first few iterations of the device failed — the first version spilled the plastic it collected back into the ocean. The next challenge was that plastic was observed to spill over the top of the barrier, which prompted the firm to increase the height of the floating barrier.

MOVING FORWARD

The company said in a press update on its website that “there is still much work to do” despite its successful trial.

It said that the plastic collected will be sent to land for recycling. The company said it plans to scale up the device and make it more durable so it can retain plastic for longer periods before collection is necessary.

Mr Ko said that besides having a tool to clean up plastic trash at sea, it was also important to educate users to reduce the rate of plastic leakage out into the sea.

Nevertheless, even after education efforts, Mr Ko said it would still be impossible to eradicate plastic trash from the oceans entirely.

“Therefore, we still need such innovations to clean up the plastic at sea, but we also need to make sure that any plastic — no matter collected at sea or land — has to be properly treated to prevent polluting the environment,” he said.

WHAT OTHER SYSTEMS ARE IN PLACE?

Other clean-up systems have also been tried in Singapore.

TODAY reported last year that the first Seabin was piloted at a marina here, and was able to collect trash such as water bottles, plastic bags, styrofoam, plastic pellets and other debris, within a range of 1m to 10m from where it is installed.

The device is connected to an electrical, submersible water pump which moves an inner basket up and down the water’s surface, allowing the bin to pull in water and trash around it.