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The Ocean Cleanup project is obviously needed since the plastic is already out there. However, I wonder if there are any projects that look to clean up the pla
by giarc 9y ago
The Ocean Cleanup project is obviously needed since the plastic is already out there. However, I wonder if there are any projects that look to clean up the plastic output by these rivers at the transition between river and ocean? The mouth of the Yangtze is only a 1km wide at terminal points. Although heavy in boat traffic, I wonder how much affect removing the plastic here would have.
- jofer 9y agoAnything that could filter the plastic at scale would likely block fish migrations and have lots of unintended consequences (not to mention that the bulk of it is probably transported during floods, which are going to be hard to filter). It's easier and more effective to combat this on the ground than in the water. That's not to say that it's an easy problem to combat on the ground, either, just that it's damned hard to get plastic out of the rivers once it's in them.
- ericd 9y agoSomething like this might help: http://baltimorewaterfront.com/healthy-harbor/water-wheel/ http://baltimorewaterfront.com/healthy-harbor/water-wheel/ Not sure if it has any effect on migrations, though.
- icc97 9y agoSurely the same technology being used in the Ocean Cleanup Machine would work. That is, it's not a net. Also boats could drive around it, it just needs to be in the flow of the river.
- pentae 9y agoCheck out the Plastic Bank run by David Katz - https://www.ted.com/talks/david_katz_the_surprising_solution_to_ocean_plastic https://www.ted.com/talks/david_katz_the_surprising_solution...