4 ms·

The Dutch boy mopping up a sea of plastic

72 points by choult 12y ago

KJasper 12y ago
The most interesting part of this story is that scientist can't seem to find this plastic. It's missing: http://news.sciencemag.org/environment/2014/06/ninety-nine-percent-oceans-plastic-missing http://news.sciencemag.org/environment/2014/06/ninety-nine-p...
- basher 12y ago
  Plastic eating bacteria? http://www.scientificamerican.com/slideshow/gulf-oil-eating-microbes-slide-show/ http://www.scientificamerican.com/slideshow/gulf-oil-eating-...
flyn031 12y ago
Found a new interview with him from September 2014 here, just raised 2 million via crowd funding, if it works it would be astonishing...big ask but http://www.globalinnovationmagazine.com/issues/oct2014/#26-27 http://www.globalinnovationmagazine.com/issues/oct2014/#26-2...
tjradcliffe 12y ago
It's a tad depressing that some scientists are telling him he's doing it wrong, and should instead be doing something else, like working to prevent plastics from entering the oceans in the first place. That is a vastly harder problem because plastics enter the oceans through many paths, from falling off container ships to washing down rivers to being carried out by the winds or falling off pleasure craft (I myself used to have several spare bumpers for my boat, donated by what I like to think of as "The Society for Mariners Who Aren't Very Good at Tying Knots"). We don't have particularly good data on which paths account for how much: http://www.sea.edu/plastics/frequently_asked_questions http://www.sea.edu/plastics/frequently_asked_questions Easy solutions, like anti-dumping treaties, are already in place. A relatively cheap means of removing plastic may not be a bad next step. Citizens willing to put time, effort and money into investigating practical engineering solutions to these problems should be encouraged, not dismissed. Particularly by people who are not themselves working on the alternative solutions they claim would be superior.
- kzrdude 12y ago
  In general we need to encourage solving the systemic problem (changing the world!) instead of attempting so-called "end of pipe" solutions. The challenge is often to uncover the system structure in itself, it's often not so apparent in every problem.
- aaron695 12y ago
  > It's a tad depressing that some scientists are telling him he's doing it wrong They should lie to him because he's just a child?
  - indlebe 12y ago
    They should be more hesitant to give him advice that may discourage him from trying. There's not enough data to warrant it, it's not a simple math problem that he's calculating wrong.
kartikkumar 12y ago
Saw his TedX talk in Delft; inspirational! Although there are plenty of challenges ahead, he proved that strong will gets you far. His crowd-funding campaign was a blitz from what I remember. The technology needs a lot more investment than he raised for large-scale deployment, but I think he shook people awake at the very least. I think he also made a wise choice of staying in The Netherlands. Water management is definitely a forte, especially in Delft. The marine technology department is attached to mechanical engineering. Will be interesting to see what the real tipping point will be for this concept to experience another 10x jump.

72 points by choult 12y ago

The most interesting part of this story is that scientist can't seem to find this plastic. It's missing: http://news.sciencemag.org/environment/2014/06/ninety-nine-percent-oceans-plastic-missing http://news.sciencemag.org/environment/2014/06/ninety-nine-p...

basher 12y ago
Plastic eating bacteria? http://www.scientificamerican.com/slideshow/gulf-oil-eating-microbes-slide-show/ http://www.scientificamerican.com/slideshow/gulf-oil-eating-...

flyn031 12y ago

Found a new interview with him from September 2014 here, just raised 2 million via crowd funding, if it works it would be astonishing...big ask but http://www.globalinnovationmagazine.com/issues/oct2014/#26-27 http://www.globalinnovationmagazine.com/issues/oct2014/#26-2...

tjradcliffe 12y ago

It's a tad depressing that some scientists are telling him he's doing it wrong, and should instead be doing something else, like working to prevent plastics from entering the oceans in the first place. That is a vastly harder problem because plastics enter the oceans through many paths, from falling off container ships to washing down rivers to being carried out by the winds or falling off pleasure craft (I myself used to have several spare bumpers for my boat, donated by what I like to think of as "The Society for Mariners Who Aren't Very Good at Tying Knots"). We don't have particularly good data on which paths account for how much: http://www.sea.edu/plastics/frequently_asked_questions http://www.sea.edu/plastics/frequently_asked_questions Easy solutions, like anti-dumping treaties, are already in place. A relatively cheap means of removing plastic may not be a bad next step. Citizens willing to put time, effort and money into investigating practical engineering solutions to these problems should be encouraged, not dismissed. Particularly by people who are not themselves working on the alternative solutions they claim would be superior.

kzrdude 12y ago
In general we need to encourage solving the systemic problem (changing the world!) instead of attempting so-called "end of pipe" solutions. The challenge is often to uncover the system structure in itself, it's often not so apparent in every problem.
aaron695 12y ago
> It's a tad depressing that some scientists are telling him he's doing it wrong They should lie to him because he's just a child?
- indlebe 12y ago
  They should be more hesitant to give him advice that may discourage him from trying. There's not enough data to warrant it, it's not a simple math problem that he's calculating wrong.

kartikkumar 12y ago

Saw his TedX talk in Delft; inspirational! Although there are plenty of challenges ahead, he proved that strong will gets you far. His crowd-funding campaign was a blitz from what I remember. The technology needs a lot more investment than he raised for large-scale deployment, but I think he shook people awake at the very least. I think he also made a wise choice of staying in The Netherlands. Water management is definitely a forte, especially in Delft. The marine technology department is attached to mechanical engineering. Will be interesting to see what the real tipping point will be for this concept to experience another 10x jump.