COMMENTARY by Editor Andy Pye xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx


(additional contributions by Michael Romberg, retired civil servant and freelance writer)


ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERS THE SOCIETY OF


CLEARING OCEANS OF PLASTICS


oceans of plastic and the possible role of industry. Slat is a Dutch inventor who in 2013 at the then age of 18 launched the


A


Ocean Cleanup project, which designs and develops advanced technologies to rid the oceans of plastic. Instead of going after the plastic – which would take many thousands of years and billions of dollars to complete – the Ocean Cleanup has developed a fleet of long floating barrier systems which allows the ocean currents to concentrate the plastic itself. The company’s floating systems are designed to capture small plastic,


from1cmup tomassive discarded fishing nets. A full-scale systemroll-out could clean up 50 per cent of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch in five years. By removing the plastic whilemost of it is still large, it is prevented from


breaking down into dangerousmicroplastics. Michael Gove announced in July that the UK will, from2018, ban the


production and sale of cosmetics containingmicrobeads – the small bits of plastic found in cosmetics that end up in the food chain and poison fish and seamammals. We will join the select group of countries that have bans: USA, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, Netherlands. This action was presented as part ofmaking the UK a leader in


environmental protection post-Brexit, but the solution is a global ban on microbeads, which is hard to achieve. Arguably, we could get further if the UK were to stay in the EU and


argue for an EU ban on microbeads. That has reasonable prospects of success. EU countries are rich countries that care about the environment but do not wish to be undercut by less conscientious rivals. The EU bureaucratic machine takes its science seriously, when member states let it. Either way, UK manufacturers will have to go over to micro-bead free


‘


plastic prevents it from breaking down into microplastics


production – at least in factories in the UK. Foreign companies that have a bead-free product will sell it to the UK. Few manufacturers will think it worth the hassle of converting or running a separate production line just for the UK (though since the USA also has a ban we can piggy-back on firms manufacturing for that market). Thus a UK ban will delay but not end


Removing large ’


the poisoning of fish and aquatic mammals bymicrobeads. On our own, we are just not that significant an economy.


t the annual CEFIC Chemicals Convention 2017 in Vienna in October the special guests includedmulti-awards winner young entrepreneur Boyan Slat and Ocean Conservancy vice-president Emily Woglom, who addressed the best approaches to rid the


President and Chairman of Council


Peter Vincent, PSEE, BA, IEng, MIET, Hon.FSEE Immediate Past President


GrahamCouser, PPSEE, CEng, CEnv, Hon.FSEE Past Presidents


Prof Steve Burnage PPSEE, CEng, CEnv, FIMechE Hon.FSEE


Prof Mervyn L. de Calcina-Goff, StJ, PPSEE ASIS CEnv, FRSA, Hon.FSEE


Vice Presidents


Stephen Tweed, CEng, CEnv, FSEE James Regan, CEnv, FSEE


Hon.Treasurer


Colin Weetch, IEng, FSEE Chief Executive


Prof Raymond P. Clark, OBE, DSc, CEng, CEnv, Hon.FSEE, Hon.FSE


Secretariat


Diana Kharchenko 020 7630 2132


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December 2017 /// Environmental Engineering /// 3


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