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A comment on First 100k KG Removed from the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. Parent comment

Re:First 100k KG Removed from the Great Pacific Garbage Patch by SantalBlush on Monday July 25, 2022 @10:15PM (#32233483)
It's not clear what you're suggesting. Do you think it would be better to leave the plastic in the ocean, or remove all of the seaweed from each piece of plastic before removing the plastic?

Second question: do you have some prior knowledge in this area that informs your opinion?

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Re:First 100k KG Removed from the Great Pacific Garbage Patch by londons_explore on Monday July 25, 2022 @10:18PM (#32233505)
I've just spent a bit of time in boats, and sometimes have hauled big patches of weedy garbage aboard just for fun.

Some types of weed entangle like spaghetti with one-another so just grabbing one corner and pulling means you can haul a few hundred kilos of weed into a boat by hand.

Most floating garbage gets covered in weed, shells, and even a few small fish or corals pretty quick. I really don't see how the garbage could be separated without destroying the weed and ecosystems attached.

Doing it at scale without some research to be sure it's the best plan seems like a really bad idea.

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