Ocean Cleanup Accused of Staging Removal of Trash Due to Spotless Plastic

Environmental group The Ocean Cleanup has denied organizing a large plastic removal operation after social media users said the debris looked too clean.

Ocean Cleanup has shared footage of an 8,400 lbs (3,810 kg) plastic towing net is removed from a portion of the ocean known as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch

Organization received backlash after showing plastic removed from the ocean

(Photo : SONNY TUMBELAKA/AFP via Getty Images)

University of Washington Associate Professor, Trevor Branch, spoke his opinion on the matter: The plastic they picked up, most of which they say is ten to thirty years old, is thus clean and free of the organisms that typically grow very quickly on something within the ocean, though he is not a professional in biofouling, others had similar queries.

David Shiffman, Arizona State University marine conservation biologist, also expressed suspicion on the matter.

"The imagery they confirmed is simply in no way what it'd appear to be if one has been to genuinely drag a large internet via the sea and scoop up plastic that has been floating there for years," he said.

"It's too brightly colored, not anything is developing on it, and that they didn't seize something however plastic," as mentioned in Greenmatters.

Experts puzzled why the hauled-up plastic appeared so clean, regardless of a few having been withinside the ocean for decades. Others raised worries that there seems to be no bio-fueling at the plastic, which refers back to the boom of organisms consisting of barnacles and algae.

According to Newsweek, a 2018 study estimated there were more or less 79,000 tons of plastic in the patch. The Ocean Cleanup was founded in 2013 by Dutch inventor Boyan Slat.

It has the purpose of eliminating ninety percent of plastic from the Great Pacific Garbage Patch through 2040, with plans to scale up its modern operations over the approaching years.

The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is what is thought as 'oligotrophic, ' because of this that it's miles very low in nutrients.

There's a cause those subtropical gyres in which they're presently busy catching plastic also are referred to as the 'deserts of the sea.' Nutrients generally come from rivers or the upwelling of deeper waters.

They use a trawler to catch the plastic attached to the back of the boat. The organization has created a system that uses large trawlers to maximize the amount of plastic caught.

By-catch, which accidentally catches marine life such as fish, is often an unavoidable part of fishing and plastic cleaning operations as modern nets and fishing gear effectively catch anything in their path.

Ocean Cleanup claims to have developed nets and techniques to avoid catches because nets and fish can easily enter and exit.

Also read: Ocean Cleanup Develops a System For Eliminating Ocean Plastics with Almost 20,000 Pounds of Trash Removed

Other organizations are also working on the cleanup

While it appears The Ocean Cleanup's efforts weren't staged, several different organizations have very similar missions. In 2020, we covered the incredible cleanup efforts led by Ocean Voyages Institute, which removed 103 tons of plastic from the notoriously contaminated area.

Likewise, Ocean Crusaders is continually monitoring ocean pollution levels, and hosting cleanup efforts, to safeguard each marine mammal, fish, and bird alike.

Within the end, it isn't regarding The Ocean Cleanup drama - what matters is that the organizations that are doing work to create our oceans are a bit cleaner.

Read more: The Ocean Clean-Up Device Is Ready For The Battle Against Ocean Trash