Saving the seven seas

The Ocean Cleanup project has been designed to make a dent on the 5.25 trillion pieces of plastic dumped into the world’s oceans. Slat’s designs harness natural winds and the effect of five key rotating currents to channel surface plastic into large barriers, or arrays, where it will remain to be collected at a later date. Having raised £1.4m (€2m, $2.1m) in a crowdfunding campaign, Slat and his team are in the process of launching the pilot phase of the project.

The Big Picture: Brands are realising the potential of the ocean’s waste drifts as a source of renewable energy and materials. Read our Whole-system Thinking macrotrend for further insight.