19-year-old Dutch engineering student Boyan Slat devises plan to rid the world’s oceans of 7.25 million tons of plastic

At http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/plan-aims-rid-oceans-7-25m-tons-plastic-article-1.1299892

The Ocean Cleanup Array project would then sell the retrieved particles at an estimated profit. But the plan has already draw the ire of some biologists who fear for sea life that may become entangled during the plastic recovery process.

By David Knowles / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

Tuesday, March 26, 2013, 9:56 PM

Sometimes it takes big ideas to solve big problems.

A 19-year-old Dutch aerospace engineering student has come up with what he believes is a way to remove millions of pounds of plastic trash from the world's oceans.

Dubbed the Ocean Cleanup Array, Boyan Slat's concept involves anchoring 24 sifters to the ocean floor and letting the sea's own currents direct the plastic bits into miles of booms, or connected chains of timbers used to catch floating objects.

What started out as a college paper earned Slat the Best Technical Design award from Delft University of Technology.

From the start, Slat said he was motivated to get to work by the very scope of the problem facing the world.

"It will be very hard to convince everyone in the world to handle their plastics responsibly, but what we humans are very good in, is inventing technical solutions to our problems," Slat said on his website. "And that's what we're doing."

Powered by the sun and ocean currents, the Ocean Cleanup Array network aims to have as little impact on sea life as possible while sifting out some 7.25 million tons of plastic over the course of just five years.

The bulk of the ray-shaped sifters and booms would be set up at the edges of the five swirling ocean gyres to trap the most plastic particles possible.

Able to function in high seas and rough weather, the booms would trap floating plastic bits, then suck them into a trash sifter. Once the plastic is retrieved, Slat envisions, it will be brought ashore and sold.

"This concept is so efficient, that we estimate that by selling the plastic retrieved from the 5 gyres, we would make in fact more money than the plan would cost to execute. In other words; it's profitable," Slat's website states.

The plan is not without its critics,... ( more at http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/plan-aims-rid-oceans-7-25m-tons-plastic-article-1.1299892 )