News Direct / A self-sustaining system designed to rid the world’s oceans of millions of tonnes of floating plastic garbage is set to make its debut next year off the coast of Japan.
The Ocean Array Platform is designed to collect plastic trash that currently floats on or near the water’s surface.The one-mile wide array features two large booms on either side which use ocean currents to direct the plastic toward a central receptacle. The trash is then filtered into a large trash receptor on the back of the floating platform for recycling.With solar panels and water-generated turbines below the ocean surface, the platform is completely self sustaining.The array will be installed near the Japanese island of Tsushima in 2016 as part of a two-year long trial.Should the trial prove successful the project will be gradually expanded, with the ultimate aim to deploy a 62-mile-long array to capture around half of the trash in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, a huge area of floating marine plastic and trash located between Hawaii and California.