This project is hugely problematic, both because there are some pretty fundamental flaws in how he characterizes plastic pollution and the lack of any responses from the Ocean Cleanup about the criticism from just about every ocean plastics expert out there. None of the major plastics pollution nonprofits endorse this work, not out of jealousy but frustration with an idea getting so much attention and funding purely because some charismatic kid has talked about it.

Assuming that it is engineered to survive storms (which is DEFINITELY not an easy feat given the design), anything like this will have an impact on marine life. Anything that floats like this will act like a FAD (fish aggregating device) and attract animals, and should be designed in a way to minimize impact or incidental catch. It seems like his discussion about what that includes has been pretty vague to date. This includes the small things in the ocean that will certainly be harmed by this device.

The dispersion of plastics in the ocean seems to follow a different profile than this device addresses. Contrary to what people imagine when they think of the “Pacific Garbage Patch,” the bulk of plastic in the oceans is not large pieces that are floating. Pretty much all plastic in the ocean has broken down into small pieces and sits through the entire water column following the mixed layer phenomenon. There’s been a lot of great research on that, including microplastics which are now found in practically every water body on Earth.

Anyways, there are much smarter people than me who outlined the flaws. You can read More here: http://www.deepseanews.com/2014/07/the-ocean-cleanup-part-1-... http://www.deepseanews.com/2014/07/the-ocean-cleanup-part-2-... http://deepseanews.com/2013/03/the-ocean-cleanup-the-newest-... http://climateadaptation.tumblr.com/post/46515698066/this-in... http://inhabitat.com/the-fallacy-of-cleaning-the-gyres-of-pl...