Yes it was a strong claim, and I should clarify that I specifically meant impossible using a solution based on ultra-large-scale-infrastructure methods like thi

Yes it was a strong claim, and I should clarify that I specifically meant impossible using a solution based on ultra-large-scale-infrastructure methods like this. The scales required to have a meaningful impact on the quantities of plastic in the ocean are such that the project itself would have a larger negative impact then the waste itself, and this specific solution seems to have some serious questions about how effective it will be at removing any amount of waste, given dispersion depths and scale of the plastic particles. A synthetic biology mechanism could be a viable approach at these scales, and there are some very interesting developments in this area in regards to breaking down and conversion of waste materials. There is a whole host of potential problems, largely of the "impossible to predict and impossible reverse" kind, that come with the idea of introducing a synthetic orgasm into the global ecosystem. Yes, waste removal is an engineering problem, but one that may not have a safe and viable solution. Source regulation is a political problem, with all complexities that come with it, but it's a workable solution, and also has the additional advantage of at least helping even if only partially implemented.