# How Can We Reduce the Great Pacific Garbage Patch? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 14, 2017, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-we-reduce-the-great-pacific-garbage-patch/779832 "2017-02-14T17:45:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2017, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-we-reduce-the-great-pacific-garbage-patch/779832/21 "2017-02-16T20:03:08Z")
> [@Isosleepy](#): > > Insufficiently descriptive, so not a link I clicked. Had you mentioned the kids name, or his origin, or some other identifier, I would not have made my post. Wasn’t my post - just one in which I clicked on the links. The second link, if you hover your cursor over it, contains Boyan Slat’s name. ---
**Author:** ![Ornery\_Bob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/da6949/32.png) [@Ornery\_Bob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ornery_Bob)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2017, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-we-reduce-the-great-pacific-garbage-patch/779832/22 "2017-02-16T20:50:38Z")
The problem is bigger than you think on the land side of things. I spend between 4 and 8 hrs on the water every weekend in Long Beach, CA and the amount of plastic trash I see in the water is astounding, and this is only local, wind blown stuff and littering. It’s not deliberate dumping, and yet I see pounds of it in just my little sphere of interaction. Plastic bags are my pet peeve and I never come home with fewer than 4 or 5 that I’ve grabbed as they float by or tangle up on my gear. If one guy in one place is seeing as much as I do, it’s not hard to believe that the total amount is in the millions of tons. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2019, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-we-reduce-the-great-pacific-garbage-patch/779832/23 "2019-01-06T16:57:56Z")
Update: [Boyan Slat’s](http://www.deepseanews.com/2014/07/the-ocean-cleanup-part-2-technical-review-of-the-feasibility-study/) [crackpot](http://www.deepseanews.com/2016/06/the-ocean-cleanup-deployed-a-prototype-and-i-honestly-have-a-lot-of-questions/) [idea](http://www.deepseanews.com/2017/01/what-did-the-boyan-slat-and-the-ocean-cleanup-do-last-summer/) [continues](https://www.theinertia.com/environment/boyan-slat-ocean-cleanup-project-problem-holding-plastic/) [to](https://www.npr.org/2018/12/18/677663325/creator-of-floating-garbage-collector-struggling-to-capture-plastic-in-pacific) [fail](https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/ocean-cleanup-device-breaks-down-well-ridding-pacific-plastics-n954446). ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2019, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-we-reduce-the-great-pacific-garbage-patch/779832/24 "2019-01-09T22:29:37Z")
[And Deep Sea News](http://www.deepseanews.com/2019/01/boondoggle-ocean-cleanup/) [addresses the latest results](http://www.deepseanews.com/2019/01/the-ocean-physics-of-the-ocean-cleanups-system-001/). ---
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2019, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-we-reduce-the-great-pacific-garbage-patch/779832/25 "2019-01-10T17:48:55Z")
> [@up\_the\_junction](#): > > Am I stating the obvious … this is quite well known now. An awful lot of the plastics come out f Asian rivers, it seems There’s been a study claiming around 60% of it is fishing industry debris: [https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0111913](https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0111913) So rather than blaming Asian cleanliness, we should stop eating fish. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2021, 9:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-we-reduce-the-great-pacific-garbage-patch/779832/26 "2021-08-01T09:17:16Z")
> **[Ships sail from Victoria to clean up Great Pacific Garbage Patch](https://www.westerninvestor.com/british-columbia/ships-sail-from-victoria-to-clean-up-great-pacific-garbage-patch-4180559)** > > Three-month-long, multimillion-dollar expedition will test a new system to trap and remove tonnes of plastics from the ocean For the low, low price of $199 you can wear sunglasses made from the garbage. > **[Turning Trash into Treasure: The Ocean Cleanup Sunglasses • Updates • The...](https://theoceancleanup.com/updates/turning-trash-into-treasure-the-ocean-cleanup-sunglasses/)** > > Today, we launched the first product made with plastic certified from the Great Pacific Garbage Patch: The Ocean Cleanup sunglasses. We also presented how we can go full circle in our mission by creating a product with our plastic catch to fund the... ---
**Author:** ![eburacum\_45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eburacum_45/32/3385_2.png) [@eburacum\_45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eburacum_45)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2021, 9:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-we-reduce-the-great-pacific-garbage-patch/779832/27 "2021-08-01T09:52:24Z")
Kit Pedler created the Cybermen for _Doctor Who_. The _Plastic Eater_ was an adaption of one his _Doomwatch_ scripts, apparently. ---
**Author:** ![scudsucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scudsucker/32/14101_2.png) [@scudsucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scudsucker)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2021, 11:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-we-reduce-the-great-pacific-garbage-patch/779832/28 "2021-08-01T11:15:11Z")
I may reveal a certain level of nerdiness here, but, as it happens, I was just yesterday reading the journal of International Molinology #90, 2015 (the journal aimed at those who study mills). In Baltimore harbour, according to the journal, and confirmed on the [internet](https://www.mrtrashwheel.com/), there exists an autonomous vessel with a water-wheel that lifts water from the surface and filters it to remove small pollutants (bottles, diapers etc). It is powered via solar and water current. Obviously someone needs to occasionally empty the trash, but I wonder if a similar collection of vessels (presumably with fairly fine filters) could be set afloat in the gyre and left unattended? ---
**Author:** ![I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/i_love_me_vol.i/32/521_2.png) [@I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_Love_Me_Vol.I)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2021, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-we-reduce-the-great-pacific-garbage-patch/779832/29 "2021-08-01T14:02:27Z")
> [@scudsucker](#): > > I wonder if a similar collection of vessels (presumably with fairly fine filters) could be set afloat in the gyre and left unattended? Boombas ---
**Author:** ![Galactus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/galactus/32/3581_2.png) [@Galactus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Galactus)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2021, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-we-reduce-the-great-pacific-garbage-patch/779832/30 "2021-08-01T14:22:56Z")
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