海洋清理任務(wù)瞄準河流

海洋清理任務(wù)瞄準河流

The group behind the mission to rid our oceans of plastic has opened a second front in the war by pulling plastic from the world's most polluted waterways before it gets to the ocean.

負責(zé)海洋塑料清理任務(wù)的組織開辟了戰(zhàn)爭的第二條戰(zhàn)線，他們從世界上污染最嚴重的水道中提取塑料，然后把它們運到海洋。

Interceptor 002 has been deployed in the Klang River in Selangor, Malaysia. (Photo: Ocean Cleanup)

The Ocean Cleanup team unveiled a group of Interceptors, which are currently in operation on two rivers in Malaysia and Indonesia. By their estimate, roughly 80% of the world's plastic reaches the ocean through 1,000 rivers. The goal is to clean up those rivers by 2025, pulling in roughly 50,000 kilograms of plastic a day with each river Interceptor.

海洋清理小組公布了一組攔截器，目前在馬來西亞和印度尼西亞的兩條河流上運行。據(jù)他們估計，全球約80%的塑料通過1000條河流流入海洋。他們的目標是在2025年之前清理這些河流，通過每條河流的截流器，每天可回收大約5萬公斤的塑料。

The ocean element is back on track

海洋元素又回到了正軌

The system uses long floating barriers and acts like an artificial coastline. (Photo: The Ocean Cleanup)

"Our ocean cleanup system is now finally catching plastic, from one-ton ghost nets to tiny microplastics! Also, anyone missing a wheel?" announced Slat. It was a buoyant moment for a project that has had its ups and downs.

“我們的海洋清理系統(tǒng)現(xiàn)在終于開始捕捉塑料了，從一噸重的幽靈網(wǎng)到微小的塑料微粒!”還有，有人丟了輪子嗎?”對于一個經(jīng)歷了跌宕起伏的項目來說，這是一個令人振奮的時刻。

Plastic successfully retained by the system in October 2019. (Photo: The Ocean Cleanup)

Slat became the poster boy for entrepreneurship when he quit university and launched the project at 18. He had come up with the idea after diving in Greece as a teenager, recognizing the scope of the problem — and coming up with a potential solution. He has been the face of the project ever since, through good times and bad.

斯拉特大學(xué)輟學(xué)，18歲時啟動了這個項目，成為了創(chuàng)業(yè)的典范。他是在十幾歲時在希臘潛水時想到這個主意的，當時他意識到問題的嚴重性，并提出了一個可能的解決方案。從那以后，他一直是這個項目的負責(zé)人，經(jīng)歷了風(fēng)風(fēng)雨雨。

The Ocean Cleanup was redeployed in June after spending four months in the shop and has been in testing mode for the last few months. The second deployment was a quieter affair than the first, when the much-lauded cleanup system began trolling the Great Pacific Garbage Patch to collect plastic waste. However, the Ocean Cleanup was forced to return to port in Hawaii just a few months after being launched because the passive floating system was catching plastic, but it wasn't necessarily retaining it and an 18-meter end section had broken away from the main frame.

海洋清理任務(wù)四個月后，于今年6月重新部署，過去幾個月一直處于測試模式。第二次部署比第一次更安靜，當時備受稱贊的清理系統(tǒng)開始在大太平洋垃圾帶(Great Pacific Garbage Patch)上收集塑料垃圾。然而，“海洋清理”被迫在下水后幾個月返回夏威夷港，因為被動漂浮系統(tǒng)正在捕捉塑料，但不一定能留住塑料，而且一個18米長的末端部分已經(jīng)從主體框架上斷裂。

Undeterred by their critics, the team behind the Ocean Cleanup said the mishap was all part of the process.

海洋清理工作的團隊并沒有被批評者嚇倒，他們表示，這次事故是整個過程的一部分。

Learning from mistakes

從錯誤中學(xué)習(xí)

Crew members sort plastic from the first successful haul and sort it into types. (Photo: The Ocean Cleanup)

The bumps and ongoing adjustments are part of the process. In fact, it was the problem that sent them back to port in December that helped them solve a deeper issue. The offshore crew noticed on Dec. 29 that the section was detached and after some debate, determined that the boom must return to port because both end sections contained sensors and satellite communication had been compromised.

顛簸和正在進行的調(diào)整是這個過程的一部分。事實上，正是這個問題讓他們在12月回到了港口，幫助他們解決了一個更深層次的問題。12月29日，海上作業(yè)人員注意到，這一段是分離的，經(jīng)過一番辯論后，他們斷定，吊桿必須回到港口，因為兩端的吊桿都包含傳感器，衛(wèi)星通訊也受到了破壞。

One reason the system didn't work as hoped has to do with speed. To catch the plastic, the system typically has to move faster — or in some cases, slower — than the plastic it's hoping to catch, Slat said. The fix put in place — one inspired by sailing — ensured that the the system will not travel at the same speed as the plastic.

該系統(tǒng)未能如愿運行的原因之一與速度有關(guān)。斯拉特說，為了捕捉塑料，該系統(tǒng)通常必須比它希望捕捉的塑料移動得更快，有時甚至更慢。修復(fù)到位——靈感來自航海——確保了系統(tǒng)不會以與塑料相同的速度運行。