A Solution For Ocean Pollution
Report by: Natalie Astill
If we were to completely discontinue the production of plastic goods overnight this would stop fourteen billion pounds of plastic being dumped into our oceans each year, but this still wouldn’t fix the problems we are currently facing (Amaral). Boyan Slat, Miranda Wang and Jeanny Yao are three researchers taking action by creating solutions to everyone’s problem. Until we do find a solution, there are simple things everyone can do to help slow down our plastic problem.
At the age of sixteen Boyan Slat became obsessed with cleaning up our oceans. While Slat was still in high school he won a science fair with a plan to solve ocean pollution.
The image above is just a partial picture of the trash Slat collected in his experiment.
In the ocean there will be an arrangement of floating barriers anchored to the sea bed that catches floating debris. The current and sea creatures would still be able to pass under the barriers since there are no nets to be tangled in. After collecting the debris the plastic could be recycled or made into other reusable products such as oil.
Boyan Slat is currently twenty years of age and working towards getting donations and sponsors to continue working on this brilliant project. “I don’t understand why ‘obsessive’ has a negative connotation,” says Slat, “I’m an obsessive and I like it. I get an idea and I stick to it.” According to Nicholas Mallos from Ocean Conservancy, which organizes coastal clean-ups, there is one pound of plastic for every two pounds of fish. "It's an economic loss if the factory loses raw product," Mallos says. "Unfortunately with consumer plastic, there is little profit in taking back waste. It doesn't cost us anything to throw it away." Little do these sellers and consumers realize that the cost in the near future to fix this mess will cost everyone more than they have (Venema, Vibeke). Hopefully by the year 2020, Slat can inspire more people to become obsessive over coastal cleanup.
Slat set up a small version, of what he hopes to make in the near future, in the middle of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch
Dead animals were also gathered in the barriers. The picture above shows plastic items found in just one dead Albatross stomach.
Miranda Wang and Jeanny Yao might have had the happiest accident of all of our lives. In 2011 these two teenage girls visited the Vancouver Waste Transfer Station and looked down on an enormous pit of plastic waste. "Plastics are useful because they're durable, flexible, and can be easily molded into so many useful shapes," says Miranda Wang, "but plastics cause serious problems, such as the destruction of ecosystems, the pollution of natural resources, and the reduction of available land and space." They both realize that we are a plastic-dependent society and know that cutting down the production isn't enough to fix the problem. It takes hundreds to thousands of years for plastic to biodegrade, so they thought instead of waiting for the garbage to fix itself, why don't we find a way to break the plastic down with bacteria?
In their twelfth grade year these two drafted a research proposal and decided to start their experiments in the local Fraser River. Plastic contains a harmful plasticizer called phthalates. Phthalates increases plastics flexibility, durability and transparency but can also be absorbed by human skin. After many broken flasks and wiping up solutions Miranda Wang and Jeanny Yao learned bacteria has a genetic pathway to biodegrade phthalates thanks to natural selection. The bacteria they discovered transforms phthalates into carbon dioxide, which sounds harmful but isn't really, and by adding this bacteria to the ocean could speed up the biodegrading process.
Continuing their research in a university, they hope in the near future they'll be able to create model organisms that will break phthalates and a wide variety of different contaminants down. As Einstein once said, "You can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking you used when you created them." Miranda Wang realized this meant, "If we're making plastic synthetically, then we think the solution would be to break them down biochemically" (Yao, Jeanny and Wang, Miranda).
There are everyday things that people can do to help cut down plastic waste such as taking reusable shopping bags instead of plastic bags. Plastic bags have only been around for 30 years and already one trillion bags are used and discarded every year (Plastic Bag Facts). Store your food in reusable, glass containers instead of using a throw away. Avoid buying products that have multiple wraps of packaging on them; a lot of products come individually wrapped then wrapped again to hold a large quantity together which is unnecessary. Probably the two simplest things you can do is stop littering and start recycling (Bernard).
Since is takes 1,000 lifetimes for plastic to biodegrade, the only way to break it down is by melting it and turning it into something else. Currently only 5% of the 14 billion pounds of plastic produced every year is recycled (Moore, Charles). An easy way to start recycling is by having separate trash cans in your home so you can easily separate your garbage and still have the pleasure of not putting in a lot of effort. For those who are willing to take it one step further there are always opportunities to volunteer. If you live near a beach you can walk along the coastline and pick up the trash, if you do not live near the beach you can still go and visit one. Places tourists mostly go to are kept clean so people will continue to come back and visit. There are many non-profit organizations that spend most of their time cleaning up our oceans and could definitely use a donation (Bernard).
We live in such a plastic-dependent society so it sounds unreasonable to stop the production of plastic completely, and even if we did it wouldn't fix the problems we are currently facing. Boyan Slat, Miranda Wang, and Jeanny Yao are three researchers who are dedicated on finding the solution to everyone's problem. I believe that the plastic problem will continue to get much worse but with their help we will be able to create hundreds of thousands of barriers in the ocean to catch floating debris and release bacteria into the ocean that will break down a variety of contaminants. A little love goes a long way by touching many hearts and a little recycling goes a long way by saving many lives, we all just need to do our part.
Works Cited
Amaral, Kimberly, Paul Joyce, and Sea Education Associatioin. "Plastics in Our Oceans." Plastics in Our Oceans. N.p., n.d.
Web. 26 Feb. 2016.
Bernard, Murrye. "Solutions for Ocean Pollution." LoveToKnow. BA Architecture, n.d. Web. 26 Feb. 2016.
Moore, Charles. "Transcript of "Seas of Plastic"" Charles Moore: Seas of Plastic. Ted Talks, Feb. 2009. Web. 05 Feb. 2016
"Plastic Bag Facts." Plastic Bag Facts. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Feb. 2016.
Venema, Vibeke. "The Dutch Boy Mopping up a Sea of Plastic - BBC News." BBC News. BBC World Service, 17 Oct. 2014.
Web. 26 Feb. 2016.
Yao, Jeanny and Wang, Miranda. "Two Young Scientists Break down Plastics with Bacteria." Two Young Scientists Break
down Plastics with Bacteria. Ted Talks, July 2013. Web. 28 Feb. 2016.
