[darkseas]

In the past, I have seen similar schemes questioned on grounds of:

- tethering, they likely need to be anchored in shallow water (<100m) to reduce expensive anchoring gear and potential entanglement,

- high wave states, what will happens to the booms and collected plastic during storms? Particularly in shallow waters where waves rear up.

I imagine testing in the Pacific would address the first, and in the North Sea for the second. But testing in Dutch lakes may not help assess either. I don't question the need for such a solution tho, hopes it works.

[darkseas]

It seems the ocean cleanup plan been afloat for awhile.

http://www.abc.net.au/environment/articles/2013/12/16/391137...

http://inhabitat.com/19-year-old-student-develops-ocean-clea...

[Sanddancer]

This seems very much like a variant of oil booms ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boom_%28containment%29 ) which have been field tested for years in oil spills to pretty good effect. Something like this, which is mostly passive, if it collects 90% of the plastic will still cut out a significant amount of pollution from the ocean. We can worry about the other 10% with another pass, or further developments.

[namenotrequired]

I'm not sure why Quartz said "lakes", maybe lakes were also used but most important were scale tests in controlled basins such as that at MARIN.

http://www.theoceancleanup.com/blog/show/item/ocean-cleanup-...