Somewhere on Hawaii’s Big Island, Hilo, a team of scientists and engineers are tending to The Ocean Cleanup’s 600-metre-long rubbish-herding device, after its voyage was cut short in December 2018 to because it fractured into two pieces, the Great Pacific garbage patch (Khan, 2019).

The project has had its fair share of problems since it was unveiled in May 2017 and has been criticised by marine scientists and environmental groups for its potential negative environmental impact. However, some still herald The Ocean Cleanup for having a positive effect on plastic pollution.

Pete Ceglinski, the Australian co-founder and chief executive of the Seabin Project – plastic-cleaning devices deployed in harbours and marinas – is one. He credits Boyan Slat, the inventor behind The Ocean Cleanup, with increasing the global awareness of the ocean plastics issue over the past six years (Khan, 2019).

But marine biologist Dr Jennifer Lavers from the University of Tasmania says that argument is also the project’s downfall. “I think that’s really dangerous,” Lavers says. “It gives people a false sense of hope that this team of people have got [plastic pollution] covered, and that we just need to throw some money at the problem.” (Khan, 2019).

Plastic pollution is a devastating problem for the world’s oceans and marine life. According to the UN, about 8m tonnes of plastic waste is dumped in the seas annually. It has been discovered at the deepest point of ocean, in Mariana Trench in the western Pacific Ocean, and in Australia, CSIRO scientists found microplastics in the sediment of the Great Australian Bight. Last year Guardian Australia reported that scientists now believe “plastic is literally everywhere.”

So the idea of attempting to “clean up” the ocean is a quixotic one. Can these projects really make a difference? The answer is yes, but not as expected (Khan, 2019).

Smaller technical solutions can make an impact in a localised area. Two rubbish-sucking Seabins were recently installed in Sydney’s Darling Harbour. The devices suck in water, trapping rubbish in a mesh bag, and recirculate the water back into the environment. There are 450 Seabins in 26 countries around the world, in 60 harbours throughout the US, Europe, and now the Asia-Pacific, collecting on average around 4kg of marine litter a day – or about 1.4 tonnes a year, according to Ceglinski.

What those cleanup projects such as The Ocean Clean Up, Seabins and the Baltimore Water Wheel are good at is increasing awareness of the plastic problem. Says Ceglinski:“The real goal is to stop plastics from entering the water in the first place. And we can do that using the Seabin as a powerful communication tool.

So, like Seabins quietly sucking away in harbours, community and individual cleanup action plays a role too. When you add up the numbers, at least in Australia – the potential impact of picking up rubbish on beaches is huge. “There’s around 50,000 volunteers across Australia who participate regularly in beach cleanups”, says Lavers (Khan, 2019).

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March 20, 2019 - Joanna Khan -https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/mar/22/plastic-pollution-can-the-ocean-really-be-cleaned-up