2,000-Foot Pool Skimmer Heads Out to Collect Garbage in Pacific

Of all the things San Francisco has brought into the wider world, few have been as big and curious-looking as Ocean Cleanup’s System 001, the contraption an offshore supply ship towed to sea through the Golden Gate last month.

Black, snakelike, and 2,000 feet long, System 001 was beginning a slow 1,300-mile journey to a remote garbage patch in the Pacific Ocean. When it arrives in mid-October, it will spend a year drifting around and around in a circular current, gathering as much plastic as possible, like a gigantic pool skimmer.

Installation of System 001 at Pacific trial test site on Sept. 15, 2018.

Source: The Ocean Cleanup

The idea can be attributed to Boyan Slat, ...