This is an ingenious idea that can protect our water bodies against plastic pollution. As some engineers have pointed out this is not a perfect solution and certainly not scale-able. Because who will go out and clean those mesh bag collectors. And unless those bags are emptied up regularly this system will not work. But still it is good initiative. Because the only bad action is doing nothing about the plastic pollution.

Already, our water bodies be it Rivers, Lakes and Oceans are filled with floating plastic bottles and bags for miles and miles. This situation is even more visible in the developing countries such as India, China, Philippines, Indonesia, Vietnam and other parts of Africa. Because the awareness about pollution is very low in poor and low education countries. This also tells us that the greatest asset we have to fight against this pollution is spreading awareness.

But this is not to say that Canada and USA dont need to worry about it. Inland water bodies in North America are equally under threat. The rate at which the plastic is depositing in our water bodies may be slower but we dont have a way to pick up each and every plastic debris. So at some point the sight will not be much different from what it is in Asia. And lets not forget that our oceans are connected. Anything that flows into Pacific Ocean in China or Vietnam will reach the oceans closer to our homes. We are not immune to this pollution by others.

The good news is that people in Asia still look up at us in Canada as something they want to emulate or follow. If they want to follow us in expanding their consumption then they also will look at us in our actions of controlling the plastic pollution. If we clean our act here at our home it will definitely encourage others to put their act together. We are all very connected to each other through our ecosystem and we shall all sink or swim together out of this pollution.



Volunteers cleared trash from the banks of the River Thames during the annual Big Bottle Count in London last month. Pic from NYTimes https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/25/world/europe/european-parliament-plastic-ban.html