Although "Plastics" may have represented the future as envisioned by the adults doling out advice to a young Dustin Hoffman in the movie The Graduate, "removing plastics" is more aligned with the current day's theme.
And a college dropout of about the same age as Hoffman's character has famously set out to rid the Pacific Ocean in particular of the plastics that have collected there for 60-some years.
Dutch inventor Boyan Slat, 24, created a system intended to clean up the Great Pacific Garbage Patch — a plastic debris field located between California and Hawaii that has become twice the size of Texas — in five years' time. The garbage catcher, "System 001," launched in Sept. 2018 to great fanfare and backed by thousands of investors.
How has it fared thus far?
It's received mixed reviews. The device's 2,000-foot-long screen broke apart just before New Year's and had to be towed in for repairs.
Although the device hadn't yet captured the plastic it was built for, Slat said in interviews that he and his team of 80 engineers and oceanographers expected a year's worth of back-and-forth with the prototype. Some type of breakdown was to be expected, he said, and although disappointed, Slat and his team intend to continue their work.
In the meantime, anti-plastic technology focuses on many areas:
– Reuse – Some advocate building with plastic.
– Reduce – Carry non-plastic bags to the store. Don't accept plastic bottles.
– Bio-technology – Research continues on plastic-eating fungus and enzymes.
– Biodegradeable plastic may be the wave of the future.
