Dutch group to start cleaning up ocean trash soon

Plastic garbage is displayed prior to a press conference of the Ocean Cleanup foundation in Utrecht, Netherlands, Thursday, May 11, 2017. (AP)

A Dutch foundation has announced it will start clearing a huge area of plastic waste in the Pacific in the next 12 months.

The firm will use floating barriers which drift along the water's surface collecting plastic, allowing sea life to pass beneath. The plan originally was to anchor the barriers to the sea bed with a system used by oil rigs.

But authorities say they will use anchors that float under the surface, allowing sea life to move beneath them thus making the system much more efficient. Free-floating barriers begin to act like the plastic they aim to snare, which makes them gravitate to the areas where most waste is.

Experts say the barriers do not catch tiny plastic particles floating in the ocean, but by scooping up larger garbage like fishing nets, and crates they prevent those items from breaking down into smaller particles that can be eaten by fish and other wildlife.

 


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