Ocean Cleaning System, Jenny, Passes Test To Help Fight Plastic Pollution

The System 002, nicknamed Jenny, was launched and tested in an effort to help clean up the ocean of dangerous plastics and it was a huge success!

The nonprofit organization The Ocean Cleanup, has a goal to remove 90% of the ocean’s floating plastic by 2040. Ambitious right?

Well, the goal may have seemed out of reach before but the organization’s recent System 002 project testing makes the goal more attainable.

Putting Jenny to the Test 

The System 002 — or Jenny — is a large-scale ocean cleanup system. Over the past 12 weeks, The Ocean Cleanup has been testing out Jenny to see if it could not only capture ocean plastic but if it was durable enough to bring the haul onboard.

To do this, Jenny was launched into the Pacific Ocean and headed toward the Great Pacific Garbage Patch to see what the system was made of. The testing site measures twice the size of the state of Texas and it’s considered the world’s largest zone of ocean plastics, estimated to contain up to 1.8 trillion pieces of debris.

Jenny passed with flying colors, bringing in 20,000 pounds of plastic in its last haul. The plastic collected was sorted and recycled. Some of the plastic will be used to create sunglasses that will be sold to help fund the awesome nonprofit.

How Does Jenny Work?

Jenny works by dragging a tensioned, 800-meter long artificial coastline. It acts as a huge barrier that skims the surface of the ocean at slow speeds to trap trash. 

In the process, larger pieces of floating plastic get picked up. This is significant because picking up plastics while they are still large cuts down on the eventual microplastics from sinking into the sea. This is really good for marine animals.

The collected plastic gets put into a retention zone and Jenny can hold between 20,000 to 33,000 lbs.

What’s the Future for Jenny?

Now that The Ocean Cleanup knows Jenny works, it hopes to create more. With 10 of these systems, the organization thinks it could clean up 50% of the area in just five years!

The organization also wants to start working on a System 003, which will be a larger, upgraded ocean system that is expected to be the blueprint design for scaling to a fleet.

At Karmagawa and SaveTheReef were stoked about this news! The fight against plastic pollution has felt hopeless at times but with this new test, it makes the future brighter. We’re so happy that organizations like The Ocean Cleanup exist and that there are caring people that want to take care of our planet and all the innocent animals that are affected by our actions

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What do you think about The Ocean Cleanup’s system Jenny and its recent successful testing? Leave a comment below.

(Cover Image: Rich Carey/Shutterstock)