So what’s to stop us- from any country- chipping away at this garbage patch by scooping up plastics and shipping them via barge to a facility on land where they can be sorted and recycled? Genuinely curious. I guess the finances would be a big hurdle but I’m wondering if it’s practical. With the micro plastics, maybe some sort of small filter or a suction method that can clump up all these bits and they can be melted/recycled/disposed of in another fashion.
Fishernet still make 46% of the waste in the ocean, but clearly It's a way easier problem to solve and microplastic is what gets us fucked sooner or later
The vast majority of plastics aren't recycled, so I don't think any country would take broken down ocean plastic if they're not taking readily available materials.
The better solution (in my opinion) is to reduce the use of plastics in the first place.
Yeah, you’re right. I guess I’d like to see us try to tackle it from both ends- reduce the amount that ends up in the garbage heap in the first place while making headway on making the heap smaller. I know it’s financially a lose lose, but it’s like that old Coke commercial where everybody holds candles in a circle on a hillside and sings “I’d like to buy the world a Coke..” in celebration of world peace: just a pipe dream, I suppose. Now I want a Coke. And I’ll recycle the bottle!
Plastic needs to be accurately sorted and very clean in order to be recyclable. Cleaning and sorting plastic that has been scooped out of the ocean is incredibly time consuming and nowhere near making economic sense.
There are companies that are advertising some of their products as being made with recycled ocean plastic, but in reality they are capturing plastic from land sources that is headed toward the ocean, before it has gotten as messy from sea life growing on it. This is a positive thing and it is keeping some plastic out of the ocean, but it won't be able to make a dent in the massive problem of discarded fishing gear floating around.
I kind of feel like, if the safety concerns could be worked out, that could be a way to use the time of prisoners in the coastal states. (Only semi joking). They could give everybody rubber gloves, some kind of scraping tool, bins and have at it. It would be working towards the greater good, not too physically exhausting (you could even do it in a temperature controlled warehouse of some sort). Certain privileges could be granted to those volunteering. But besides the obvious ethical concerns of the labor, it may be too hard to distinguish different types if the labels are worn away/unclear due to the plastic being just filthy. Just wiping it down may not be enough cleaning.
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u/camergen Aug 12 '21
So what’s to stop us- from any country- chipping away at this garbage patch by scooping up plastics and shipping them via barge to a facility on land where they can be sorted and recycled? Genuinely curious. I guess the finances would be a big hurdle but I’m wondering if it’s practical. With the micro plastics, maybe some sort of small filter or a suction method that can clump up all these bits and they can be melted/recycled/disposed of in another fashion.