can the great pacific garbage patch be cleaned up with the versi dredge?

Timeline of 'unscheduled learning opportunities'Ģ018: Wind- and wave-powered System 001 - 'Wilson'

So it's worth checking back in on The Ocean Cleanup, and whether Mr Slat's dream is any closer to becoming reality. In the meantime, the plastic problem in the world's oceans has grown much worse. Mr Slat has jokingly referred to the failures as 'unscheduled learning opportunities'. In the years since The Ocean Cleanup was launched, designs have been tested, failed, refined, and tested again. While few could question the principle, or Mr Slat's belief in the project, many questioned its feasibility. The plan is to now scale up the device and make it more durable so it can retain plastic for up to a year or possibly longer before collection is necessary.Riding the huge wave of publicity after his presentation made its way to YouTube, Mr Slat launched a crowdfunding campaign, then a feasibility study, and eventually began working on prototypes for a system to remove from the world's oceans '90 per cent of floating plastic by 2040'. “I think in a few years’ time when we have the full-scale fleet out there, I think it should be possible to cover the operational cost of the cleanup operation using the plastic harvested,” Slat said. The project believes there may be a premium market for items that have been made using plastic reclaimed from the ocean.

The plastic gathered so far will be brought to shore in December for recycling. “We now have a self-contained system in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch that is using the natural forces of the ocean to passively catch and concentrate plastics … This now gives us sufficient confidence in the general concept to keep going on this project.”

He said: “We are now catching plastics … After beginning this journey seven years ago, this first year of testing in the unforgivable environment of the high seas strongly indicates that our vision is attainable and that the beginning of our mission to rid the ocean of plastic garbage, which has accumulated for decades, is within our sights. Slat told a press conference in Rotterdam that the problem he was seeking to solve was the vast expense that would come with using a trawler to collect plastics.

Can the great pacific garbage patch be cleaned up with the versi dredge?