What are the environmental impacts of The Ocean Cleanup's operations?

Question

Are there any environmental effects associated with the activities of The Ocean Cleanup, for instance the release of CO2?

Answer 1

The activities of the Ocean Cleanup are said to release about 90kt of CO2 in the atmosphere every year which emissions are comparable to what a small town Wheatland in Wyoming will emit. The organization, however, remains of the opinion that the advantages of the ocean pollution increase the benefits of cleaning the ocean, far surpassing the disadvantages posed by these emissions.

Comments

Truly amazing work, this is where money should be going!

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Nice he can get the plastic on the surface. The plastic will still be there. The plastic stretches from the top to the bottom.  How is he going to clean that?

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But I like microplastics in my seafood. Guess I'll have to eat my credit card now.

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So, instead of tackling the root cause, polluting industries that produce single use plastics and non-biodegradable materials the solution is to create a new market with venture capital to clean up at the end of the chain. That's rich

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Why have we not just banned plastic already?

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We'll just pollute it again

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But what about the microplastics. Which is the bulk of the problem. A net is not going to clear those out? Just picking up the visual floating garbage is nothing but window dressing. False solutions are worse than no solution.