Cleaning up the world’s biggest floating rubbish dump

A non-profit organization is developing and scaling technologies to rid the world’s oceans of plastic, with the aim of putting itself “out of business” once the water is clean. Ocean plastic accumulates in five patches, the largest one being the Great Pacific Garbage Patch (GPGP), located between Hawaii and California. The patch covers an estimated surface area of 1.6 million square kilometers, which is more than six times the size of the UK - or three times the size of France. But a non-profit called The Ocean Cleanup is fighting back. In August 2023, they deployed System 03 in the GPGP for the first time. The technology is capable of cleaning the area of a football field every five seconds and removes foreign objects from the water without harming marine life. Watch more on Independent TV: The Independent is the world’s most free-thinking newsbrand, providing global news, commentary and analysis for the independently-minded.