A dump in Patna
illustrates a pervasive
problem in the Ganges
Basin: Lack of adequate
trash collection has
resulted in plastic
being strewn in areas
where the monsoon
rains wash it and other
waste into the river.
OPPOSITE
A woman in Rishikesh
sorts plastic waste by
hand, paying particular
attention to the most
valuable kind: bottles
made of polyethylene
terephthalate, or PET,
which can readily
be recycled to make
clothing, for example.
Thanks to waste
pickers, India has a far
higher plastic recycling
rate than the United
States. But much plastic
trash has no value.rivers. It was his organization that funded the
new study showing how many rivers were sig-
nificant sources of plastic pollution. In 2019, he
unveiled a solar-powered barge similar in design
to Mr. Trash Wheel and announced plans to
clean the thousand worst rivers within five years.
The pandemic delayed work; so far, Slat’s “Inter-
ceptors” are operating in Indonesia, Malaysia,
Vietnam, and the Dominican Republic. Together
with the Pacific device, they have collected more
than 2.4 million pounds of trash.
Though Slat has taken on the Pacific, even he
thinks trying to skim plastic from large conti-
nental rivers, including the Ganges, would be
the wrong approach.
“It’s too wide, and the trash is diffuse,” he said.
The better strategy would be to attack smallerannounced a grand plan to sweep up the Great
Pacific Garbage Patch, a collection of loose
marine debris, much of it plastic, that swirls
around the North Pacific. He raised $30 mil-
lion and launched his contraption: a floating,
2,000-foot-long, U-shaped boom that skims
waste from surface waters. Several marine sci-
entists told him it was a terrible idea—that he
would have to operate his device indefinitely,
at unsustainable costs, as long as plastic flows
into the Pacific, and that it would be virtually
impossible to remove microplastics because
they are so tiny and spread throughout the water
column. But Slat persisted, and his device is still
out there, mostly gathering abandoned fishing
nets. Even critics praise it for that.
Meanwhile, Slat has turned his attention to
104 NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC