Overview:

Our solution uses naturally found plastic digesting bacteria such as Ideonella sakaiensisand a unique filter design we developed. These plastic digesting bacteria will be grown in large numbers and then transported to the 5 major gyres of the ocean in order to clean the garbage patches at each location; the most notable of which is the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. Our solution will only take 10 years to clean the Great Pacific Garbage Patch and is very feasible. Furthermore, our filter will be placed at water treatment plants around the world in order to prevent more microplastics from being released back into the ocean during and after the cleanup. In areas without water treatment infrastructure a household version will also be available. The design uses a combination of xylem plant tissue and activated carbon in order to naturally have pores smaller than most microplastics and be able to automatically draw water through it by using the properties of cohesion, ashesion, and vander-wals forces.

Link to Website: https://sites.google.com/view/the-h2o-flows/home

Link to NASA Ocean Currents Animation:

Link to Report (includes all resources): https://docs.google.com/document/d/1GzPeZCk2bURyBf89_CsGymbRroMlIzeY2JTP_ltlaIc/edit?usp=sharing