Ocean Cleanup Redeploys Its Plastics Collecting System

After tweaking its plastics collecting system over the past four months, The Ocean Cleanup redeployed the revamped System 001/B last week.

“After only four months of design, procurement, and assembly, the crew is now on their way to the Great Pacific Garbage Patch with the upgraded System 001/B,” the company informed via social media.

Being towed by the Maersk’s supply vessel Maersk Transporter, the system is scheduled to arrive at the test site on June 25.

After a couple of years of various tests, the system failed two months after being deployed and was towed to Hawaii for inspection and repair. The company earlier explained that the System 001, which was deployed into the Great Pacific Garbage Patch in September 2018, needed final fine-tuningbefore it could start harvesting plastic at full potential.

The Ocean Cleanup confirmed many key assumptions of the design, but also encountered two unscheduled learning opportunities during the period – the system did not maintain a sufficient speed, allowing plastic to exit the system, and a stress concentration caused a fatigue fracture in the HDPE floater.

In mid-January 2019, the Wilson system completed its 800-mile journey and arrived in Hilo Bay, Hawaii.

The latest campaign would test the various modifications that were made to the system.