Dutch inventor unveils river barge to scoop plastic before entering oceans

[nitpicker]

https://www.dw.com/en/dutch-inventor-unveils-river-barge-to-scoop-plastic-before-entering-oceans/a-51004414

Dutch inventor unveils river barge to scoop plastic before entering oceans

Date 27.10.2019
Author Chase Winter

A Dutch foundation striving to remove plastic from the world's oceans unveiled on Saturday an invention to remove waste in rivers before it enters the sea. The Ocean Cleanup says the barge called "The Interceptor" will "close the tap" on the greatest source of plastic entering oceans.

The non-profit established by 25-year-old Boyan Slat estimates that 80% of river plastic stems from just 1,000 rivers, the main arteries that carry waste from land to the ocean.

The 24-meter-long (79 feet), solar-powered barge will be anchored at strategic locations in rivers and use natural currents to collect plastic, while allowing animals and ships to pass. The invention uses a barrier that guides plastic into a mouth-like bow, from where it rolls up a conveyer belt and is dumped into six dumpsters.

The autonomous barge has capacity to hold 50 tons of plastic, working around the clock. Once full, a computer sends a message to operators who then empty the dumpsters and send the contents to local waste management facilities. In optimal conditions the barge could collect up to 100 tons per day.

The project will attempt to deploy in the world's 1,000 most polluting rivers within five years, The Ocean Cleanup said.

Prototypes of the device have already been tested in Jakarta, Indonesia, and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Two more are prepared to be put into action in Vietnam and the Dominican Republic.
(snip)

[progree]

1. Interesting, but I read that most of the plastic flowing into the oceans is from 3rd world countries

(unlike just about every other kind of pollution where the developED world is the biggest culprit by far).

And the reason for the high quantity of plastic flow into the ocean from developING countries is that they have almost no formal garbage collection (except for the wealthy) - in either case it's just dumped wherever including into rivers. Or piled high in hill-sized mounds where inevitably some fraction of that is washed by rain into creeks and rivers. So when I read:

Once full, a computer sends a message to operators who then empty the dumpsters and send the contents to local waste management facilities.

There aren't any or far too few or too far away -- that's the main problem.

And of course this does nothing for the other pollutants that get into rivers and thus into the oceans. But any improvement is good.

[IndyOp]

2. Interesting contribution - thank you! (nt)