Sail against disposable plastic waste

Posted by: Siel on February 19th, 2010

Sailing to study disposable plastic seems to be the eco-adventure du jour! Last month, I wrote about 5 Gyres,** a marine plastic pollution research effort that includes two research expeditions across the Atlantic Ocean. The first of these scientific sailing trip started across the North Atlantic last month — and officially ended the day after Valentine’s Day, when the boat and the activists and scientists in it arrived safely in the Azores.**

5 Gyres’ second trip doesn’t begin until August, but another anti-disposable-plastic adventure’s about to set sail! That would be The Plastiki Expedition,** headed up by David de Rothschild, banking fortune heir and environmental activist. This expedition will set sail from San Francisco — on a boat made with all recycled materials, including a whole bunch of reclaimed disposable plastic bottles — to cross the Pacific and arrive in Sydney, Australia four months later.

It’s unclear when exactly The Plasticki Expedition will begin its journey, because the trip’s been delayed a few times.** But the latest update on Plastiki’s website** shows the crew conducting sea trials in San Francisco — which makes me think the adventures will begin soon.

About the time Plasticki finally arrives in Sydney, more eco-minded expeditions will be setting sail across the Pacific. In Summer 2010, Project Kasei** — a nonprofit based in San Francisco and Hong Kong tackling marine pollution — will send multiple vessels to the North Pacific Gyre. This project will not only study the gyre, but also look into cleaning up the gyre. According to Project Kasei’s website, this expedition will “test an array of marine debris collection systems” as well as collect some debris “to further study the feasibility of converting this to fuel or other useable material.”

Don’t understand why Project Kasei’s the only sailing expeditions working on cleaning up the mess, instead of just studying it? The gyres are unfortunately tough to clean up because the trash in them are not nicely collected into a compact pile. The mess looks more like a thin soup with chunks here and there, according to Slate’s Nina Shen Rastogi,** who explains why one of the gyres — a.k.a. The Great Pacific Garbage Patch — remains swirling in the oceans:

Because the trash is so dispersed, it’s not like we can just steer a big ship out to sea and pick up the Garbage Patch. Collecting all those small fragments of plastic would be extremely expensive. Plus, thanks to a variety of factors—from winter storms to El Niño—the Garbage Patch moves from season to season and year to year, making it hard to target effectively. Finally, in gathering up those little scraps, you also run the risk of catching—and killing—any marine animals living amid the debris, many of which are the same size as the plastic bits.

That’s why we need to focus first on reducing the amount of trash that still goes to feed the gyres. If you’ve taken the FilterForGood pledge to banish disposable bottled water from your life, you’ve taken a personal first step towards this goal. Worried about all those plastic water bottles past from before you took the pledge? Consider donating to 5 Gyres** or Project Kasei** — as well as FilterForGood partner Surfrider Foundation — to help these nonprofits do their marine pollution studies, environmental outreach and education, and hopefully one day, large-scale cleanups.

Photo via The Plastiki Expedition on Facebook** and Project Kasei on Flickr**

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