Read the text. For questions 6.1.–6.4., choose the appropriate paragraph and write the corresponding letter (A–E) in the table. One paragraph does not match any of the questions. 

 

In which paragraph does the author refer to

6.1.	an inevitable aggravation of the current situation?
6.2.	the desired outcome being jeopardized if the recovered plastic is re-used inappropriately?
6.3.	a potential hazard to marine life which the system already manages to eliminate?
6.4.	an agreement concerning single-use plastics as a step in the right direction?

 

A DUTCH TEENAGER WHO HAD A DREAM

A. The eradication of oceanic garbage patches has been Boyan Slat’s single-minded goal ever since he was 16 years old, when his diving trip to Greece yielded more plastic bag sightings than fish. Obsessed with the idea of creating a floating barrier that could collect plastic using the power of ocean currents alone, he founded the company The Ocean Cleanup. Now, Slat will watch as System 001 – a floating barrier nearly 2,000 feet long – snakes its way out into the Pacific. Its destination is the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, a gyre of plastic waste twice the size of Texas held in position by ocean currents between California and Hawaii.

B. The project has come a long way since an early prototype of System 001 was featured in TIME’s list of the best inventions of 2015. What was originally envisaged as a large rigid barrier arranged around a central tank for collecting plastic is today an unmanned, modular system that moves with the currents, naturally gravitating to areas of higher concentration. It looks like a pipeline sitting on the surface of the sea, but beneath the waves lies a 10-foot deep “skirt”, which traps the plastic accumulated by the current. Unlike earlier projects of its kind, the system does not use nets, and thus prevents sea life from becoming entangled. The hope is that plastic will accumulate as if on a seashore, ready to be collected by boats and taken for recycling. 

C. It’s an ambitious plan, and one that has received millions of dollars of funding thanks to fast-shifting public opinion on plastic. In December 2017, a UN resolution to eliminate ocean plastic pollution was signed by nearly 200 countries. As a consequence, big corporations are supposed to eliminate single-use plastics from their goods and services as soon as possible. But reducing our addiction to plastic is just one half of the equation. “These garbage patches won’t go away by themselves. Even if we were to close the tap today, the plastic would still be there in a hundred years,” Slat says.

D. Slat sees his mission as a race against time. Plastic gradually breaks down into smaller pieces called microplastics which can eventually enter the food chain and affect the health of both marine and land creatures. Currently, 8% of the plastic mass in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch is microplastics, according to research carried out by his company and published in the journal Scientific Reports. “But of course what’s going to happen over the next few decades is that all the other 92% of the plastic will be turned into microplastics as well,” Slat says.

E. A thorny question that remains is what will happen to the plastic that is brought back to shore. Slat says he wants to turn it into branded merchandise, but acknowledges that it all depends on the quality of the plastic, which remains unknown. Nowadays, most of the plastic in the oceans is single-use. “By not making it into anything single-use, you can already reduce the chances of it ending up back in the oceans by 99%,” he says. But he fears that some of the waste returned to land might ultimately be used by third-party companies to produce more single-use plastics destined to return to the oceans.

Adapted from: www.time.com