Boyan Slat, the creator of the Ocean Cleanup project, tweeted that the 600 metre-long (2,000ft) free-floating boom had captured and retained debris from what is known as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.
Viral internet trends aren’t often inspiring. However, the most recent hashtag—#trashtag—is empowering. Tons of everyday citizens are taking it upon themselves to help make their communities look and feel a little nicer.
TWasteShark, an electric vehicle that traverses waterways, can autonomously gather up to 132 pounds of plastic waste at a time. If it’s deployed five days a week, it can remove 15.6 tons of plastic waste from a body of water per year.
SodaStream announced the launch of a plastic-cleaning contraption dubbed the "Holy Turtle" into the ocean today. It is the first such cleanup initiative undertaken by a commercial company.
Indonesia wastes upward of 10 billion plastic bags every year, making it the second highest polluter of plastic in the world. Thousands of volunteers gathered around the country in one of the largest plastic cleanups to date.
