Hats off: Sri Lanka’s World Cup jersey is made up of Recycled plastic waste from Ocean

Man is the only living creature that is created is think and dominate over other living beings on the planet. Man can do anything right from hunting a bird or an animal to slaughtering it for his own table purpose and this is because the so-called other living beings cannot protest against the mass killings.

Apart from these killings, he is also polluting the environment by making the planet a complete mess despite barring little positives. He has turned Oceans from bad to worse. Due to human’s big blunder of expelling plastics and waste into the ocean, the entire marine system is now in danger.

We have seen sea turtles getting badly affected by plastic straws that got stuck in their noses and it was indeed a sad scene. Humans are only responsible for this infamous activities. In addition to that, this is also causing an annual financial loss of $13 billion, according to the UN estimates.

Credits: Ceylon Today

However, Sri Lanka is leading by example by carrying the flag of ultimate responsibility to protect the environment. As per the reports, Sri Lanka will be donning cricket jerseys which are made up of recycled plastic materials collected from the ocean. This is something that all other sporting teams should learn from the Islanders.

According to MAS Holdings, the official clothing sponsor the jerseys were made using the recycled plastic waste collected beaches around the country.

The company also added that the material was locally manufactured and interestingly, it is on par with international standards.

More importantly, the jersey flaunts an image of a turtle, the species which currently faces the biggest threat of plastic waste in the oceans.

The company also said that the objective was to create public awareness about the conservation of marine life.

Scientists, about 8 million metric tons of plastic are thrown into the ocean annually which are floating under the surface, slowly wiping out marine life.

Out of those, 2,36,000 tons are microplastics, which are tiny pieces of broken-down plastic and its size is tad smaller than your little fingernail. Shockingly, this is the equivalent of 1 garbage truck of plastic which is being dumped into our oceans every minute. We might have to sort out the issue and clean up things before it is too late or else we might also have to face high risk of extinction in the times to come.

In case you didn’t know: World’s Ocean cleanup mission has started, 90% of plastic to be removed by 2040

In a bid to remove the plastic and to make the ocean free from all polluting substances to a maximum extent, the most ambitious ocean cleanup has been started. This long-term process will make sure that 90% of plastic is removed by the end of the year 2040.

We can certainly hope that the oceans would get better as the cleanup process advances

Slat started his dream project to get rid of the ocean of plastic and today must be an unforgettable day. In 2013, when Slat was just 18, he was the one who launched The Ocean Cleanup, which is a non-profit based in his hometown Delft. It is developing advanced tech to get rid of ocean plastic.

Slat and team have come up with an idea of utilizing the ocean currents to good effect. They call it a ‘passive drifting system’ (System 001) consists of a 600-metre-long floater at the surface of the water with a tapered 3-metre-deep skirt connected below.

The floater restricts the plastic from flowing over it, whereas the skirt halts debris from escaping underneath. As the system locates through the water, the plastic starts to collect within the boundaries of the system when it takes a U-shape. After the drifting system has rounded up the garbage, a ship comes into play where it can gather it and take it away for further processing

The Ocean Cleanup mission is to convert the plastic into materials that can be utilised for new products.

Hailing from Chennai, Chaithanya G is the Managing Director of TheYouth. He has dedicated his whole life to reading and writing.