Is there a way out of this mess? Potential solutions to cleaning up our oceans

Potential solutions to cleaning up the plastic in the oceans are still in their infancy, however I've selected four ideas which could go someway towards reducing marine plastic pollution. However, given the huge amounts of plastic we're still producing I think this quote is rather relevant:

"Imagine using a thimble to empty a bathtub, with the faucet still running."                             Algalita marine research and education

For now, let's just imagine that we have managed to shut off that 'faucet' and prevented more plastic polluting our oceans. How can we remove the plastic that is already there? The ideas I'll discuss are by no means the only ones out there, and they range in the scale of their ambition.

1) Ocean Cleanup

The Ocean Cleanup is an ambitious project led by 20 year old founder and CEO Boyan Slat. Slat's idea is to place massive V-shaped floating structures in the ocean. The structure has a non-permeable screen going down into the water. Most of the current will still run under the screen, taking with it things of 'neutral buoyancy' i.e. sea-life, so there will be no by-catch. The 'positively buoyant' plastic will be caught, relying on ocean currents to bring it there. The project is well underway, having received crowd-funding. A lot of testing has already been done. In 2016, a 2000 meter long barriers will be deployed off the coast of Japan, with a smaller 100m to be tested later in the Netherlands, with the overall aim of deployment in the Pacific.

The V-shaped boom. Source.

2) Plastic Republic, UCL iGem

This idea has arisen out of a student synthetic biology competition. Deciding to tackle the issue of marine plastic pollution, the student team from UCL came up with the idea of releasing an engineered bacteria into the North Pacific Garbage Patch to first degrade the plastic, and then release a biofilm to adhere to the plastic particles, with the overall aim of creating huge floating plastic islands. These large plastic aggregates would then be easily visible from air and collected, thus cleaning the oceans and reclaiming the plastic for potential second use. Watch their trailer below and check out their website here for more information on this very cool idea!

3) Seabin Project: in-water automated marina rubbish collector 

On a smaller scale, two Australian guys have come up with the idea of automated rubbish bins placed in marinas, ports etc. which will catch rubbish (including plastic), fuel, oil and laundry detergent. The bins are then simply lifted out, emptied (for sorting and recycling) and put back to start all over again.  Seabins are only really for use at coastal infrastructure, such as marinas, but these sheltered environments protect the seabins from ocean storms and use the tides to bring the rubbish to them. The location also means people can see first hand what is in the oceans, in the places where they swim or sail. Again please check out their website and watch their video below!

4) International Coastal Cleanup

Finally, I have to mention the Ocean Conservancy's International Coastal Cleanup. Whilst this isn't removing plastic from the ocean it is 'stemming the tide' of plastic going into the ocean, and collecting items washed ashore by waves. It's a voluntary movement, and anyone can get involved. In 2014, 560,000 volunteers in 91 countries picked up more than 7,000 metric tonnes of rubbish, an awful lot of it being plastic. It's great work, and I will definitely be looking into helping out!

Top 10 items collected by the Ocean Conservancy's International Coastal Cleanup in 2014. Source.