Issue link: http://www.wacmagazine.com/i/1107571
MAY / JUNE 2019 39 P H O T O C O U R T E S Y R AY T I M M MAY / JUNE 2019 39 For most of us, the photos are disturbing. A dead albatross with a stomach full of plastic debris. A beached whale with 64 pounds of waste in its stomach. A sea turtle with a straw in its nose. For WAC member Ray Timm, they represent a global emergency he could no longer ignore. An aquatic-disturbance ecologist, Ray spent 25 years working as a government scientist, university researcher, and consul- tant. Then he went out on his own. "My ecol- ogist guilt kicked in," Ray says. Last year, he started Seattle-based Siskowet Enterprises. The company aims to put a stop—or at least a big dent—in plastic debris polluting the oceans. Current estimates suggest that be- tween four million and 12 million metric tons of plastic enter the oceans every year. One infamous collection zone is the Great Pacific Garbage Patch that circulates in the Pacific Ocean about halfway between Hawaii and California. Ray is a year into plans for a clean-up effort that, when fully realized, would in- clude an innovative fleet of "sweeper boats," drones that would gather up plastic and other debris and bring it back to manned mother ships. There, waste would be con- verted into energy through high-efficiency incineration. Each drone would be programmed to swarm around others, with high collection rates maximizing the amount of plastic gath- ered. Ray estimates that 500 sweeper boats could clean up the garbage patch in roughly 40 years. So far, Ray and business partner Dan Gestwick are in communication with com- panies in Switzerland and France to build a device to convert plastics to fuel. They're also working on a business development plan and seeking funding. Their proposal is in the running for an award from Conserva- tion X Labs, a company that bestows cash prizes for technology solutions to conserva- tion challenges. Ray knows the task is a mammoth one. Waste continues to flow into our oceans around the world. "You've got to be a believ- er," he says. "If ecosystems in the oceans collapse, humans aren't going to have much to eat." SISKOWET ENTERPRISES RAY TIMM