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I'm glad to see this project is trying. There is a lot of fear over this cleanup method. Perhaps due in part that the proposal is new and hasn't proved itself e

I'm glad to see this project is trying. There is a lot of fear over this cleanup method. Perhaps due in part that the proposal is new and hasn't proved itself effective yet. The suggestion is if it fails then it will add more garbage to the ocean than was removed. I suspect most of the concerns are stemming from how quickly they are trying to move. The apparent afterthought of how this will impact wildlife while collating the debris, and early failed trials with mild weather. These are good critiques. I'd like to see answers for those issues, out a plan proposed to investigate and about for these concerns. I don't think it's reasonable to push all of that on a company that's trying, without offering some support or an alternative.

clay_the_ripper 8y ago
Do you have any sources about the wildlife concern? I was under the impression that the impact was negligible compared to the potential benefit. Also, re: adding more plastic than was removed: While that may be technically correct if it doesn’t work, the way I see it is this: -this project: -potential benefit to the oceans: high -potential risk to the ocean: comparatively low —99.9% of companies we debate about on this site: -potential benefit to the oceans: zero -potential risk to the oceans (assume here we are talking about any company that creates or purchases, directly or indirectly, any kind of plastic): high On that alone, it seems like the risks far outweigh the benefits. I also think if you think about the types of companies you see created every day: delivery services, manufactured products of any kind etc. All those companies have the externality of potential plastic waste. For example a delivery startup is going to be purchasing plastic spoons or plastic food boxes. No one is sitting around criticizing them for potentially adding plastic to the oceans. We all talk about economics and scale and product and software. But that company is almost certainly adding to the growing problem of plastic in the oceans without providing any upside. Meanwhile this company is proposing launching large objects that could become waste in the oceans, yes. Although they are satellite tracked and I’m sure could be removed easily. But the upside is removing way more waste than they are discharging. So it seems worth the risk to me.

clay_the_ripper 8y ago

Do you have any sources about the wildlife concern? I was under the impression that the impact was negligible compared to the potential benefit. Also, re: adding more plastic than was removed: While that may be technically correct if it doesn’t work, the way I see it is this: -this project: -potential benefit to the oceans: high -potential risk to the ocean: comparatively low —99.9% of companies we debate about on this site: -potential benefit to the oceans: zero -potential risk to the oceans (assume here we are talking about any company that creates or purchases, directly or indirectly, any kind of plastic): high On that alone, it seems like the risks far outweigh the benefits. I also think if you think about the types of companies you see created every day: delivery services, manufactured products of any kind etc. All those companies have the externality of potential plastic waste. For example a delivery startup is going to be purchasing plastic spoons or plastic food boxes. No one is sitting around criticizing them for potentially adding plastic to the oceans. We all talk about economics and scale and product and software. But that company is almost certainly adding to the growing problem of plastic in the oceans without providing any upside. Meanwhile this company is proposing launching large objects that could become waste in the oceans, yes. Although they are satellite tracked and I’m sure could be removed easily. But the upside is removing way more waste than they are discharging. So it seems worth the risk to me.