In the article, “Boy Genius Boyan
Slat's Giant Ocean Cleanup Machine Is Real,” Schiller (2017) explores the
potential of Boyan Slat’s recent innovation, with claims to radically improve
the situation in the Pacific Garbage Patch, projecting to remove 50% of the plastic
waste within the next 5 years. The article mentions that Slat’s design
functions as an "artificial coastline", utilizing current to entrap
and gather waste for convenient disposal. With the prototype for the former
design failing in the harsh ocean conditions, Slat was able to learn from and
improve his device. The new design replaces the use of foundations with anchors
situated in the deep-sea layer to slow down the boom and facilitate entrapment.
According to Schiller, Slat made 2 claims. Slat’s first claim was that the
revised system will be more robust, affordable, and "scalable" with
plans to increase the quantity of deployed booms by reducing their size. In a
bid to substantiate his colossal projections for trash removal, Slat also
claims to have done extensive simulations on the interaction of marine devices
and trash in its natural environment. Ultimately, he plans to recycle all the
plastic collected in the Patch. While I agree on the dire need of
cleaning up the ocean, Slat’s innovation fails to collect nano-plastics which greatly
impact the environment, marine organisms as well as humans.
Firstly, nano-plastic impact the
marine organisms in the ocean. Nano-plastic particles come in different shapes
and compositions. Due to its small size, nano-plastics get stuck in the guts of
marine organisms and penetrates animal tissues and organs. It is not surprising
when marine organism mistake nano-plastic for food. According Othman (2018), a
study by scientist from National University of Singapore (NUS) proof that nano-plastic
are small enough to enter the bloodstreams and infiltrate walls of marine
organisms. In addition, plastic is capable of absorbing pollutants and chemicals
from the oceans. Marine organism plays a major role in the food chain as what
they consume will travel up the food chain and eventually to humans.
Secondly, nano-plastics is harming
the environment. Phytoplankton is greatly affected by the presence of
nano-plastic as it takes up food space in their body. This potentially results
in stunted growth. As phytoplankton is responsible for half of the photosynthetic
activity on earth, it plays a major role in the local and global ecosystems.
Without phytoplankton to pull carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere,
carbon-dioxide levels would rise due to the production in both biological and
industrial sources.
Lastly, the presence of nano-plastics
in the ocean disrupt the access of good water quality. Ocean become the main
source of living for developing countries. The lack supply of clean water for
drinking and sanitation lead to an increase of environmental and health issues.
According to the United Nations World
Health Organization (2002), an estimated of 1.7 million death a year caused by waterborne
diseases such as diarrheal disease. Due to the lack of resources and funds in the
developing countries, water treatment is not readily available to convert ocean
water into clean water. Plastics, in general,
contain toxins which is harmful to the human body in a long run. As nano-plastics
cannot be seem by the naked eye, it is impossible to avoid drinking its toxins
without the aid of water treatment in developing countries.
Although the message on the
importance of cleaning the ocean was conveyed, it fails to focus on all types
of plastics. Slat’s machine require improvement to effectively remove all plastic
waste in the Pacific Patch.
Reference List
Schiller, B. (2011). Boy Genius Boyan Slat’s Giant Ocean Clean up
Machine is Real. Fast Company. Retrieved January 30, 2020 from https://www.fastcompany.com/40419899/boy-genius-boyan-slats-giant-ocean-cleanup-machine-is-real
Roscam, B. (2019). How microplastic particles are turning the
ocean into plastic soup. GreenBiz. Retrieved February 5, 2020 from https://www.greenbiz.com/article/how-microplastic-particles-are-turning-oceans-plastic-soup
Best, S. (2017). Shocking
extent of plastic pollution: Microscopic photos show how plankton consume tiny
toxic microfibres that could devastate the ecosystem. Mailonline. Retrieved,
February 2 from https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-4420992/Shocking-photos-reveal-plankton-consuming-microplastics.html
Othman L. (2018) Nanoplastics found to accumulate in marine
organisms, risk being transferred up food chain: NUS. Channel News Asia.
Retrieved February 5, 2020 from https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/plastic-pollution-nanoplastic-microplastic-ocean-nus-research-10292766
Macklin, M. (2016). Plastic Pollution is Killing Plankton.
How the Loss of This Species Threatens the Oceans. One Green Planet. Retrieved,
February 2 from https://www.onegreenplanet.org/environment/plankton-under-threat-tiny-life-in-major-need-of-your-help/
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