Boyan Slat, founder and CEO of the Dutch environmental organization said that the structural malfunctioning of the cleanup system was discovered on December 29 during a regular inspection.
“Although it is too early to confirm the cause of the malfunction, we hypothesize that material fatigue (caused by about 106 load cycles), combined with a local stress concentration, caused a fracture in the HDPE floater,” Slat added.
“It’s important to note that both the 580-meter main section and the 18-meter end section are both completely stable; all bulkheads are intact, and the end section has two stabilizers affixed to it, so rollover is not possible. Also, because no material was lost, there have been no safety risks for the crew, environment or passing marine traffic. However, as the redundancy in the cleanup system’s sensors and satellite communication (which are mounted on both end sections) has now been compromised, we concluded it is sensible to return to port.”
The pioneering system, comprising a 600-meter-long U-shaped floating barrier with a three-meter skirt attached below, was deployed to the Great Pacific Garbage Patch (GPGB) in October. However, during the initial observations of its behavior it has been noted that the plastic sporadically escaped the system, creating a need for fine-tuning of the device.
Ocean Cleanup System 001的18米的部分（通常稱為Wilson）已斷裂，整個用於收集塑料的系統現在將返回港口進行維修和升級。
荷蘭環保組織的創始人兼首席執行官博揚·斯拉特說，清理系統的結構故障是在12月29日的定期檢查中發現的。
“雖然現在確定故障原因還為時過早，但我們假設材料折舊（由大約10 6個 負載循環引起）與局部應力集中相結合，導致HDPE浮子斷裂，” Slat補充說。
“值得注意的是，580米的主要部分和18米的末端部分都完全穩定; 所有護板都完好無損，末端部分有兩個穩定器，因此無法翻車。此外，由於沒有材料丟失，對船員、環境或海上交通沒有安全風險。然而，由於清理系統的傳感器和衛星通信（安裝在兩端）多餘的部分現在已經受到損害，我們得出結論，返回港口是明智的。“
這個開創性的系統包括一個600米長的U形浮動屏障，下面連接著一個三米長的扇形裝置，於10月部署到大太平洋垃圾帶（GPGB）。然而，在對其行為的初步觀察期間，已經註意到塑料偶爾飄離系統，從而需要對裝置進行微調。
Information source: World Maritime News Staff , Image Courtesy: GCAPTAIN
