Device to trap plastic waste in Pacific Ocean relaunches

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. Time to put it to the test. pic.twitter.com/wbUUvrihbh

— The Ocean Cleanup (@TheOceanCleanup) June 21, 2019

SAN FRANCISCO — A floating device designed to catch plastic waste has been redeployed in second attempt to clean up a huge island of trash swirling in the Pacific Ocean between California and Hawaii.

Boyan Slat, creator of The Ocean Cleanup project, announced on Twitter that a 2,000-foot (600-meter) long floating boom that broke apart late last year was sent back to the Great Pacific Garbage Patch this week after four months of repair.

A ship first towed the U-shaped barrier from San Francisco to the patch last fall to trap the plastic, allowing a support vessel to fish out the collected plastic and transport it to land. But during the first run, the boom broke apart under constant waves and wind and the boom wasn’t retaining the plastic it caught.