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Addressing the Issue

We know that cleaning the oceans will not be a simple single solution. First we need to increase Recycling the packaging and products that we dispose of. Clean the worlds waterways and oceans by collection of disposed plastics and trash from the gyre without harming the environment. Then Reduce the types and amounts of plastics used during manufacturing. We will need to think and implement RCR as a total package to insure Our Cleaner Planet for generations to come.   

Recycling

Persuading the world's people to stop littering is the first and best place to start. This will become a massive growth industry for Our Cleaner Planet that will have the largest positive effect on reducing in the worlds pollution problem.   

 

 The following is a Excerpt from “The Best Way to Deal With Ocean Trash” By Laura ParkerNational Geographic

 

 Dr. Tony Haymet and like-minded ocean scientists haven't given up. They favor a low-tech, more practical approach to protecting the oceans from trash: Persuade the world's people to stop littering.

 

 Only about 20 percent of ocean plastic comes from marine sources, such as discarded fishing equipment or cargo ship mishaps. About 80 percent of it washes out to sea from beach litter or was carried downstream in rivers, according to the CSIRO study, which is considered the most comprehensive. About half of that litter is plastic bottles. Most of the rest is packaging. "All of that stuff was in a human's hand at one point or another," Dr. Chris Wilcox says. "The essence of the solution is to provide incentives for people not to throw this stuff away. It is the cheapest, simplest, and far most efficient solution to the problem."   

Cleaning

The first stage filtration for sizes that are visible to the human eye we will be using specific gravity and varying flow rates to separate the plastics from the sea water and biologics. These will be the larges filters on the ship and will require the most space.

 

 The second stage filtration or with a goal of removing plastics down to the 5 micro level may be based upon Dr. Gerald H. Pollacks work in water purification. Water has three phases – gas, liquid, and solid; but findings from his laboratory imply the presence of a surprisingly extensive fourth phase that occurs at interfaces. The formal name for this fourth phase is exclusion-zone water, aka EZ water. This finding may have profound implication for chemistry, physics, biology and ocean filtration. Once the EZ water is removed we have a much denser solution to remove the tiny sea creatures from the plastics. So far there is no method to accomplish this and we will be creating our lab to find one.

 

 The collected plastics can be turned into fuel while at sea and used to power our ships, we will transport the unused plastics to shore where they can be turned into sell-able product. On shore diesel gasification could also be employed for natural gas sale as this process has been approved by the California EPA to use waste materials for electricity. 

Water

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Reducing

Reducing the amount of plastic used during manufacture and packaging could have the second greatest impact. This is working. Plastic straws and single use plastic are on the decline. We know that society today requires plastic but single use is becoming obsolete because of you.

 

 Plastic packaging is increasingly designed for single use and the landfill—only 14% of plastic packaging is recycled; nearly a third doesn’t even make it to landfill and instead is littered on land or swept into the ocean. The fastest growing form of plastic packaging—flexible packaging pouches and sachets—is now used for everything from dried fruit to pet food to detergent and is not recyclable. Annual U.S. flexible plastic sales are estimated at $26 billion. A 2014 report by the UN Environment Program estimated that use of plastic consumer goods causes $75 billion of environmental harm annually to natural ecosystems, including $13 billion specifically to marine ecosystems. After a single use, 95% of plastic packaging material value ends up in landfills, as roadside litter, or in the ocean. As You Sow is pleased that the report affirms that a radical increase in the “economics, quality and uptake of recycling” is an essential first step towards a New Plastics Economy, confirming our pioneering, long-term focus on engaging companies to increase recycling of post-consumer products and packaging.

Our Cleaner Planet is developing a seaborne, eco-friendly, non-membrane filtering system for its ships. This will include a method of safely removing microscopic marine life from plastics and extracting harmful chemicals from the water. We are currently perfecting our methods of extraction to ensure a successful deployments at sea.

©2024 by Our Cleaner Planet - Created by Oddjob Media

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