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The 600-meter “Ocean Vacuum” is quietly cleaning the seas — without using a single drop of fuel. Across the Pacific, this silent machine drifts with the waves, not roaring or drilling, just moving naturally with the water and collecting plastic as it goes.

Created by Dutch engineers at The Ocean Cleanup, the long floating barrier works like a giant funnel. Ocean currents push plastic toward its wide arms, guiding everything from ghost nets to tiny microplastics into a central zone where they can be safely removed and recycled.it

recycled.it looks almost too simple, but that simplicity is the brilliance. By following the water instead of fighting it, the system runs entirely on sunlight, waves, and wind. No engines. No emissions. Just clean, passive design.

Early deployments have already removed thousands of kilograms of plastic from the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, proving that large-scale ocean cleanup is no longer a dream — it’s happening right now.

And behind all the engineering is a powerful reminder: when we work with nature instead of against it, solutions become smoother, cleaner, and far more effective than we ever imagined.

Dec 29
at
5:00 AM

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