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THE boat that cleans rivers from plastic
We no longer remember how many times we have commented that the oceans are increasingly polluted. Every day we can verify it in the media.
Although technology is taking giant steps in trying to stop this ecological disaster (See the perfect plastic made with skins and fish scales), in reality, many projects still need a background of development to be really effective and adopted by society.
Among so many initiatives that we have on the blog, just this week a project was presented in Rotterdam that is already operating in different rivers of Indonesia, giving really positive results, and, of course, hope to achieve less polluted oceans.
We must remember - according to estimates - that around 1% of the world's rivers are responsible for most of the garbage that enters the ocean.
About 1% of the world's rivers are responsible for most of the garbage that enters the ocean
Its about boat called Interceptor that works entirely with renewable energy and is collecting tons of plastic garbage that flow down the rivers from Indonesia.
The system was designed by the non-profit organization The Ocean Cleanup, which has spent the last four years developing and testing this new technology while continuing to work on its main project: a device that can capture plastic trash once it is already in the ocean.
The new technology is designed to be anchored in a riverbed where the largest amount of plastic flows, that is, it uses a large barrier that blocks part of the river to collect the plastic while it floats and redirect the garbage to the collection system.
The collection is by a conveyor belt that removes the garbage from the water and an autonomous system distributes it in different containers located on a barge.
The device is placed where the greatest amount of plastic flows, and another device can be placed further down the river to collect debris that could escape the first interceptor.
You have to think that the whole ship works automatically and when the system is full and ready to be taken to a recycler, it automatically sends an alert to the local operators to proceed accordingly.
According to the organization, on a typical day, can extract up to 50,000 kg of plastic garbage from the river; depending on the amount of plastics, currents and tides. Even reaching the excellent figure of 100,000 kg of garbage in optimal conditions.
See also the creative recycling projects article where plastic can be given a new utility with a little imagination.
In the following video they show us how the boat that cleans rivers of plastic.
Although there are other initiatives of the same scope, they are not reaching the amount of garbage that this project is capable of processing. In addition, it has been designed so that it can be produced - replicated in an easy way and thought so that the human being has a minimum interaction with the machinery and the different debris collected in the water (We can see more examples of sustainable development policies).
According to the organization, each year, up to 2.4 million metric tons of plastic flow from rivers into the sea. Most of that garbage comes from rivers in Asia, in cities where recycling infrastructure is often inadequate.
The organization has an excellent interactive map where the most polluting rivers in the world can be geolocated (We can consult it from HERE).
Obviously, this is not the solution, but as countries and companies try to make changes to bans on single-use packaging, an increase in recycling systems that really work or other initiatives, it is clear, that addressing the Problems in rivers is part of the short-term solution.
If we want to know more about the Interceptor project and The Ocean Cleanup organization, you can look from here and we remember that; First you have to consume consistently and then recycle (The article on how garbage should be recycled is of interest)
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