Most ocean cleanup assumes that marine trash is on or just below the ocean’s surface. The reality is that most of this litter doesn’t float — it sinks to the seabed where it remains to contaminate the environment. Metals, plastics, fishing nets, tires, and bottles all make their way to the ocean floor. The few efforts to remove this rubbish have required divers and cranes; they have been slow, costly, and physically demanding.
Once on the seabed, plastic doesn’t stay intact; it breaks down progressively into smaller fragments, eventually becoming microplastics that damage food chains and water supplies.
The Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands is cutting edge on understanding the impacts of seabed debris and developing cost-effective and scalable strategies to address this ubiquitous problem. A company based on this research, SeaClear, is operating under the European Union’s Mission: Restore Our Ocean and Waters, with targets to cut marine litter in half by 2030.