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points to the “$1 billion” a year in ship damage caused by ? oating plastic. That junk would be recycled and sold for $500 million, the “payback” for a plan of execution Slat puts at €300 million. Sounds like a worthwhile business proposition.

Meanwhile, CEO Slat and his supporting cast of researchers and volunteers — now an ocean-experience enterprise (pay to be a part) and a mass movement organized by social media — have ploughed another barrier into the densest reaches of the great brown Paci? c gyre. In tow behind their sail boats, the plastic traps have shown that design and operational costs might come down, after it was found a shallower barrier also collects garbage.

This summer, another Slat-led expedition heads for Ber- muda, the Azores and the North Atlantic Garbage Patch. For aspiring engineers with sea legs, Slat says he’s hiring: two de- sign and structural engineers; a hydrodynamic engineer and a ? nance intern. He’s also looking for volunteers with specialist training, including communications.

Whatever one thinks about Slat, his “solution” or the high- pro? le support and coverage he’s received, no better ideas have appeared to clean things up. The shipping industry might be partly on board, but other coastal industries — offshore energy or aquaculture — might want to pitch in with an award of their own. As Cox said, who are the polluters?

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