89 2 Explore toxic plastic pieces, leaving no room in their bellies for food, or get trapped in plastic bags and nets. About one hundred thousand marine mammals and at least one million seabirds die yearly due to plastic pollution. This is a problem that won’t go away, and the amount of plastic in the oceans will probably increase in the years to come. The promising solution Boyan Slat has put in a lot of work, together with a large group of scientists, to find a solution to this massive threat to aquatic life. Their invention, The Ocean Cleanup Array, is a long floating barrier, which is moored to the seabed. When the currents move the plastic trash towards the barrier, it stops the trash from floating further and gathers it onto a collection platform. The waste materials can then be collected and recycled. The Ocean Cleanup’s long-term plan is to remove 7 250 000 tons of plastic from the world’s oceans in the next ten years. The Japanese experiment Ocean currents send plastic towards certain islands or coastal areas. Every year more than 30 000 cubic metres of trash wash ashore on the island of Tsushima in the Japanese archipelago. This makes the island a perfect place to start testing The Ocean Cleanup Array. Both the Japanese government and the people who live on the island have agreed to cooperate with Slat and his team while they are testing the system. The floating barrier will span over one mile and the array will be in the area for two years. If the system works successfully, Slat and his team plan to expand The Ocean Cleanup. Slat’s aim is to extend a 62-mile-long array, which will capture about half of the trash in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. If all goes according to plan, the oceans will no longer be riddled with plastics and might again provide a safe habitat for all creatures of the oceans. a subheading – undirfyrirsögn a topic – efni an array – röð a current – straumur a contraption – uppfinning to capture – að fanga crowd-funded – hópfjármagnað aquatic life – sjávarlíf toxic – eitrað a mammal – spendýr to increase – að auka a barrier – hindrun to moor – að liggja við akkeri a seabed – hafsbotn to remove – að fjarlægja an archipelago – eyjaklasi to span – að spanna to expand – að stækka við sig to extend – að ná yfir according to plan – samkvæmt áætlun riddled with – fullur af to provide – að skaffa a habitat – búsvæði 1 mile = 1.6 kilometres Find out how long the planned extension of the Ocean Cleanup Array will be in kilometres. The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is an area in the Pacific Ocean between Asia and North America where millions of tons of garbage gathers due to the currents.
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