A floating device employed by The Ocean Cleanup project has been upgraded and returned to sea in a second attempt to catch the plastic waste circulating in the Pacific Ocean.
After being installed at the so-called Great Pacific Garbage Patch (GPGP) in September last year, the system ? nicknamed Wilson ? broke down in January 2019 after a stress concentration caused a fatigue fracture in one of its floating barriers.
System redeployed after four months
On 21 June, Boyan Slat, creator of The Ocean Cleanup project, announced on Twitter that the upgraded system was on its way to the GPGP after just four months of repair.
The device is expected to arrive at the deployment site tomorrow, 25 June.

And we?re on our way! https://t.co/VCMDHqpB7S
? Boyan Slat (@BoyanSlat) June 21, 2019
"Hopefully nature doesn't have too many surprises in store for us this time," read a tweet by Slat. "Either way, we're set to learn a lot from this campaign."
Following the breakdown in January, the engineering team quickly began upgrading the device, starting with an improvement of the structural design by simplifying the flexible piping and allowing minimal fluctuations in the wall thickness.
"By adapting the design to address these unknown learning opportunities, we aim to have a system that can effectively capture plastic and withstand the forces of the ocean," The Ocean Cleanup stated.
Criticism of the project remains
The Ocean Cleanup initiative aims to eventually r...