There are 5 different areas in the world that are said to be the main locations where ocean currents eventually concentrate plastic particles.

The largest of those is believed to be the Great Pacific garbage patch, or North Pacific Gyre.

And one teen who has been working on this dream of cleaning the ocean for several years now, will soon be launching his full cleanup system; he hopes will be able to tackle the floating garbage worldwide.

Dutch inventor and entrepreneur Boyan Slat is the one behind The Ocean Cleanup project and he's devised a system of trash-collecting booms that are expected to be launched in the next few months.

Collecting 50 percent of the garbage in 5 years

Slat hopes that within only 5 years that they will be able to collect at least 50 percent of the garbage that makes up the Pacific Garbage Patch. Their current effort is said to be the first of its kind that has sought to try and tackle the garbage patch and experts suggest that it might even be able to collect 40k metric tons or more within just 5 years time.

Slat gave a TED talk more than 5 years ago, titled How the Oceans Can Clean Themselves, and he's been working on trying to fulfill his dream of cleaning-up the ocean ever since, despite many naysayers along the way.

The total cost of the endeavor, for collecting trash over the next 5 years, is estimated to be somewhere around $320 million.

And there are dozens of people who have been working on the project along with Slat. Those behind the project have already been successful in managing to raise tens of millions of dollars from investors, including PayPal founder and billionaire Peter Thiel, to help them move forward.

This is the year that they hope will prove their vision a success.

Eventually, with all of that plastic that they collect out of the ocean, they want to then recycle it so that it can be used for producing things like chairs, eyeglasses, car bumpers, and other items.

Pics:
via earthDecks
pixabay

Sources:
https://www.thesun.co.uk/tech/6119743/worlds-first-ocean-plastic-cleaning-machine-to-gobble-up-great-pacific-garbage-patch/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Pacific_garbage_patch
https://www.fastcompany.com/40419899/boy-genius-boyan-slats-giant-ocean-cleanup-machine-is-real
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/ocean-plastic-cleanup-machine-great-pacific-garbage-patch-launch-boyan-slat-a8317226.html