Turning the Tide: Innovative Technologies Cleaning Our Oceans and Air, Part 1 or 2

In this two-part series, we’ll explore technologies designed to clean our oceans and capture excess carbon from the air. Today, in Part 1, we’ll focus on the critical issue of ocean plastic pollution and the creative solutions that are emerging. Global initiatives have emerged, led by environmentalists, scientists, and engineers working together to protect our oceans. These groups are using modern technology and advanced facilities to monitor and improve the effectiveness of ocean cleanup efforts.

The Ocean Cleanup is an ambitious non-profit organization founded by Dutch inventor Boyan Slat. Using massive U-shaped floating barriers, they create an artificial coastline. A towing vessel then moves forward slowly to create relative speed difference between the artificial coastline and the plastic, enabling the collection and recycling of plastic debris. To boost its efficiency, in 2023 The Ocean Cleanup developed the System 3 barrier, which is designed to improve both the speed and effectiveness of the cleanup process.

With innovative marine solutions, Mr. Boyan Slat and The Ocean Cleanup have made ocean conservation more achievable and efficient. Supreme Master Ching Hai (vegan) gratefully presented the Shining World Invention Award to Boyan Slat and a US$25,000 contribution for his noble actions. Supreme Master Ching Hai(vegan) also awarded The Ocean Cleanup the Shining World Protection Award in recognition of their admirable work.

The Seabin Project offers a simple but effective solution for places like marinas, ports, and yacht clubs - areas where land-based trash often ends up in the water. The Seabin V5 is basically a floating garbage can that moves with the tide. It can capture up to three kilograms of debris a day, including micro plastics as tiny as two millimeters. Right now, there are over 1,100 Seabins in 53 countries, and together, they’re pulling more than two tons of trash out of the water every day.

The Seabin team regularly weighs and sorts the waste they collect to figure out what types and amounts of plastics and other pollutants are out there. They work closely with scientists to conduct environmental impact studies, checking how much the water quality improves. They also analyze the catch bags to see how well the Seabin captures micro plastics, which is very important for understanding the long-term benefits to our environment.