Cleanup nonprofit headed to Great Pacific Garbage Patch to clear water of plastic

An ambitious effort to corral and remove plastic from the ocean cleared an open-ocean trial last week and is now headed to the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.

The Ocean Cleanup, a nonprofit that assembled its floating plastic-capture system at the former Alameda Naval Air Station, successfully completed two weeks of testing about 350 nautical miles off the coast. On Tuesday, the team was given the go-ahead to head another 1,000 miles to a location halfway between Hawaii and California.