The Ocean Clean Up

byMTCandela1

3.7K followers

1 year ago

Pollution is the introduction of harmful materials into the environment. These harmful materials are called pollutants. Pollutants can be natural, such as natural wastes, and the rest are created by human activity such as trash and runoff produced by factories. There are 4 types of pollution namely: air pollution, water pollution, soil pollution, and noise pollution.

This blog will deal with the water pollution, as about 71% pf the earth's surface is water-covered, and the oceans hold about 96.5 % of earth's water. Moreover, water is also present in water vapor, in rivers, in lakes, in icecaps and glaciers.

Water does not sit still, as it goes to the water cycle and constantly moving from one place to another, and from one form to another.

As water pollution is a really vast problem., let me narrow it to ocean pollution. There is more than 8 million tonnes of plastic that enters the ocean every year. With the increase use of plastic in most of the things we use, plastic seems to be overpowering us. Animals mistake plastic waste for prey as we see plastic all around us, and sadly 100,00 animals die from entanglement each year.

Scientists and environmentalists worried that the problem could be having effects on human and ocean health, have done a more active role in ocean pollution prevention. To help solve the problem, they have created the interceptor barrier that intercepts the trash and buffers it until it is removed from the water.

The Interceptor is designed like a catamaran, meaning water passes through the center. Th current of the water moves plastic onto a netted belt, which water filters through and back into the river, and the plastic goes from the conveyor belt into the shuttle. It is 100% solar-powered, extracts plastic autonomously, and is capable of operating in the majority of the world's most polluting rivers. River waste flowing with the current is guided by the barrier towards the opening of the interceptor. The Ocean Clean up Interceptor, is highly reliable to extract about 100,000 kilograms of trash from the ocean each day, and is cleared every six months as per The Environment Agency to prevent blockages and prevent the risk of polluting the environment. Interceptors also separates oil, silt, dirt, grease and harmful contaminants and water traps that are fitted into the drainage system.

The collected plastic from the ocean is recycled and transformed into durable plastic products. According to industrial ecologists and researchers, only 93% of plastic are polymers, and the 7% are additives, that are known to be hazardous.

We cannot recycle our way out of this problem. We need to reduce single-use plastic, or we are facing plastic deluge and the aftermath will be with us essentially forever.

(References : Oceana Magazine; National Geographics; The Ocean Clean Up)

"Let us do our small bit to make the world a cleaner and healthier place"