The Great Pacific garbage patch cleanup hit a milestone, tiger numbers stabilised, and Botswana bested HIV, plus more positive news
A project to clean up the Great Pacific garbage patch reached a milestone, the global tiger population stabilised, and Botswana was hailed for its HIV success, plus more positive news
The great garbage patch cleanup hit a milestone It has become emblematic of our throwaway society, a grim testament to the pitfalls of single-use plastic. But this week, efforts to clean up the Great Pacific garbage patch reached a milestone: 100,000kg of plastic removed so far.
Admittedly, it’s small fry. Strewn across an area twice the size of Texas, the floating mass of rubbish is 1,000 times larger than what has been landed so far. But the Dutch nonprofit behind the project, The Ocean Cleanup, said it was preparing to scale up.
“We are ready to move on to our new and expanded system, which is expected to capture plastic at a rate potentially 10 times higher,” said Boyan Slat, its CEO.
The Ocean Cleanup uses computer modelling to predict where large concentrations of rubbish will accumulate, and skims it from the sea using giant booms. The nonprofit deploys similar technology at river mouths to stop plastic entering oceans in the first place.
Image: The Ocean Cleanup
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