Hi, this is Wayne again with a topic “The Ocean Cleanup’s 100th Plastic Extraction Event: Everything That Happened in 7 Minutes”.
The big risk that all this plastic – that’s already in the ocean – you know this stuff has been there up to 60 years right. So so really the microplastic that we see today uh used to be the large objects just a few few decades ago. Right. So if we don’t take out this plastic now, all of this mass will, you know which, by the way today is still mostly large objects, will fragment down into smaller and smaller microplastics, which which then of course end up in the food chain and in the fish. We eat, which you know potentially threatens the health of of three billion people.
I think what the world really needs now is um is an example to show like you know, problems are there to be solved, and you know this is how you do it not by you know, complaining about it and pointing at it but uh by using our Our brains, our Ingenuity and our perseverance to to actually um solve it. So this is where we have our four cameras positioned, so you’ve got a view all around the deck. So hopefully we get uh. We get some good angles and some nice shots today, um. What they’re up to at the moment is that they’re just preparing to uh to actually start that pulling process. So they’ve approached the back of the retention Zone.
They’Ve caught hold of a there’s, a boy or a buoy. I guess if you’re American, on the back of the system, uh they’ve got hold of that and they’ve brought it onto the deck and they’re just getting ready to make that connection um and start pulling all right. And then it’s going to be pulled over the the the back of the ship here, yeah exactly yeah when they pull it at first it. It acts a little bit like a draw string on a purse.
All of the plastic is in the back of the retention Zone, but when they pull it, it also has the action of kind of closing the retention Zone as well. So that’s what stops any plastic escaping while we’re doing the extraction as well, that orange uh, boy or buoy that we’re coming on that is coming on Deck now, that is the very very end of the retention zone. So the retention Zone has this uh uh arrangement of ropes that we can use to pull it on board. And then this boy is is extended out from the back of the retention Zone and that’s just to give a nice big clearance between the vessel when it makes its approach uh and the retention zone. So they’ve got a hold of that they’re not going to pull the whole thing in by hand of course, they’re. Just picking up this small light rope at the end, um and then they’re going to clip uh once the uh once the main rope is on board they’ll connect that to the the yellow line that they have lying on the deck there and then it’s time to Pull they’re pulling now um on on that pickup line and like I was saying that it has uh two functions or it has two effects.
One is it’s used to to pull everything on board, but also when we pull it it it does like. I said it acts like a draw string on a purse, so when you pull it, it’s going to uh yeah, having like a closing effect on on the retention Zone and seal all of the plastic effectively in the back of the retention zone, so that it doesn’t Escape when it comes on board looks like we have some action happening where the retention zone is coming on the deck yeah look like this is the moment yeah indeed yeah so yeah there was a a small pull earlier and, like I say, sometimes we we don’t. We don’t see and hear everything from here, so sometimes they need to make an adjustment for something and then they’ll just stop and take the time they need to make that adjustment, so they’re ready to go and do it right the first time um. So that’s what they’ve done um and this yeah.
So, on the left hand side you, that’s really the plastic that you can see. You see this kind of uneven shape and that’s because it’s packed full of all of this plastic. This make you want to be out there absolutely yeah, it’s it’s always. Sort of the sea has definitely a great appeal for me and that’s also motivating to yeah to yeah to make it cleaner and better yeah, and I think it’s also the size that you see, like you, see a big lump coming on Deck.
But it’s it’s sort of difficult to to foresee how it looks on the deck in just a couple of moments, but also how big it is and and yeah cu the size of the fessel. It’S it’s over 70 m in length. So so it’s it’s just special to see and and also great that it’s not in the water anymore. So we’re going to pull it on uh they’re, going to make a few connections on the deck, and that’s going to mean that it’s yeah it’s like kind of more or less fixed in place, and it can’t you know it can’t slip out again and that’s going To make it safe for the guys on board to go um, yeah and basically split this section from the part. That’S in the water and then we’ll release the part in the water and then we’ll only have the Plastics on deck and we’ll be able to do. The the the dump, the emptying all right, exciting. So what are we seeing now yeah so now this is on board now, so the the plastic is now safe. So that’s the plastic that was in the Great Pacific, Pacific, Garbage, Patch and and and never will be again. So that’s a fairly satisfying feeling. It’S all on board.
Now um. I talked about them having to make those uh um connections to to hold everything in place. Um so that they could uh, they could release the part. That’S holding the plastic from the rest of the system, um, so they’re they’re, making those connections at the back of the vessel.
Now we can’t see them actually cuz. It’S behind the you know the the huge pile of plastic that we’ve just brought on um and yeah, and they they’re just preparing to make that disconnection. The lines that you see yeah in the image on the top right.
You can see two two lines that are coming down from the top of the screen: uh and they’re, the ones that we’re going to use to lift uh and they’re coming from the cranes. So in in the four images that you see in the top left. You’Ve got these: two cranes are sticking out that we’re going to use for the lift, and now we we see they’re, going to start to kind of get everything in position now um and then we’re also going to have some other lines coming from further back on The deck that they’re going to just make sure nothing’s swinging out of control and also that we’re holding the opening open so that the the plastic can come out. Okay, so they’re lifting it now we’re getting closer. This is again. This is like a really nice bit to be on board as well, because, like I said when you see it coming over the stern you get this big big noise, you’re going to see everything fall, it’s a steel deck.
The whole deck is shaking under you as well. This is it. This is the mission.
This is the impact. This is all of the plastic wow buy. What do you think? How was extraction number 100? It’S cool, I mean it looks exactly like 5,824 kilos, I’m happy um yeah, it’s uh PR, sizeable catch. It’S you see quite a lot of Nets. So that’s good for the kilos. Um yeah mean it’s always always magical to see that you think realizing that that would have been in the ocean for possibly centuries.
If we wouldn’t have taken it out today, y, it’s um, it’s a good feeling and um. I was just thinking just imagine the the outrage. If so, the reverse would happen if anyone would dump. I saw a video recently of some of you know, stupid College.
You know, kids, throwing a you know: a bin of of waste uh off their boat in in Florida um, and I was thinking well, that’s that just got 20,000 retweets or something like that. Um and that’s like maybe 1 kilo of plastic, so uh, so that, of course, this is kind of the the reverse of that, but that on a much larger scale, so um yeah it is. It is very, very special and um yeah just exciting. Every time. .