News
Boskalis and Van Gansewinkel Groep investigate ‘plastic soup’
12 May 2010
Koninklijke Boskalis Westminster and Van Gansewinkel Groep have investigated the pollution by plastic waste in the ocean. A voyage across the Indian Ocean has led to the initial conclusion that collecting and processing the ‘plastic soup’ in the oceans is not yet viable in financial and environmental terms.
The makers (VPRO) of the Dutch television programme called ‘Beagle: in the wake of Darwin’ invited Boskalis and Van Gansewinkel Groep to join an exploratory expedition on the clipper ‘Stad Amsterdam’ in order to study how to clean up and process the plastic soup. They were on board for three weeks. Boskalis specialises in solutions for complex marine problems. Van Gansewinkel Groep was asked to participate because of the company’s extensive knowledge of products, raw materials and recycling.
With the collaboration of researchers from the Algalita Foundation, the American ‘discoverers’ of the plastic soup, samples of the plastic waste in the Indian Ocean between Australia and Mauritius were brought to the surface and analysed. The findings were documented and discussed with a number of organisations, including Plastics Europe, the European plastics producers’ trade association and students of Wageningen University in the Netherlands.
When taking the samples, sea life such as small fish, jelly-fish and algae were also brought to the surface in addition to plastic. In much greater quantities than the plastic in fact. The maximum amount of plastic that was encountered on this route was approximately 200 grams per square kilometre, a fraction of the concentrations that are found elsewhere in the world. The plastic particles were often so small that their removal from the sea would prove very difficult. The amount of time and money required for this is disproportionate to the ecological improvements that would be achieved. Because sea organisms are involuntarily brought to the surface along with the plastic, any remediation action would in fact be damaging rather than beneficial.
The researchers are strongly in favour of regularly taking and analysing samples in order to accumulate more reliable information on the scope and consequences of this form of pollution. Ideally, samples could be taken by existing international merchant shipping during regular voyages. If further research were to indicate that the plastic concentrations and ecological damage caused by the plastic are (or become) much greater than currently assumed, a complex clean-up operation might still be justifiable.
In addition to the ‘dumping ground’ in the Indian Ocean, there are four further dumping grounds in the Pacific Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean. When added together, these represent a surface area that is estimated to be twice the size of the United States.
Cradle to Cradle Boskalis and Van Gansewinkel Groep are convinced that solutions for preventing the harmful effects of this plastic soup should be sought at the product design stage. Clever design and more intelligent material combinations have the potential to drastically reduce the negative ecological effects of materials that end up in the sea. This also fits in well with the Cradle to Cradle principle.
In the meantime, according to the researchers involved, absolute priority must be given to preventing more non-biodegradable waste ending up in the seas and oceans. For example, by setting up information campaigns in countries where there are currently no restrictions on dumping plastic waste in nature. It is estimated that 80 to 90% of the plastic waste in the oceans originates from dry land and 10 to 20% from shipping.
Plastics Europe, Boskalis and Van Gansewinkel Groep request the plastics industry, the retail sector, research institutes, NGOs (such as the WWF and Greenpeace) and government bodies (including the United Nations) to initiate and coordinate follow-up research. Boskalis and Van Gansewinkel Groep will continue to participate in further exploration and finding a possible solution for this problem.