The device that was supposed to clean up the Great Pacific Garbage Patch has been out in the ocean for three months, but apparently, it’s not working as planned.
The Ocean Cleanup project, launched by young Dutch inventor Boyan Slat, towed its first plastic collecting boom into the Pacific in September. So far though, the boom has failed to collect any plastic waste. Apparently, the gathered plastic moves out of the collecting boom when the boom moves slower than the trash.
Slat is not willing to give up. The Ocean Cleanup sent out a team to make modifications at sea, which they hope will make the boom move consistently faster than the garbage.
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