The Ocean Clean up has introduced a new project: a floating, solar-powered device called the Interceptor that scoops plastic out of rivers and is able to can catch plastic before it flows into the ocean.
Ocean Cleanup CEO Boyan Slat stated that the Interceptor will be used to clean up 1,000 of the most plastic polluting rivers in the world. The rivers being targeted are responsible for about 80% of ocean plastic pollution.
Furthermore, Interceptor can extract 50,000 kilograms of trash per day and could potentially collect up to 100,000kg per day under optimised conditions. The device is designed to be environmentally friendly. It’s solar-powered and lithium-ion batteries let it work day and night without producing noise or exhaust fumes, the group says.
Ocean Cleanup’s Interceptor has already been installed and is operational in two locations: Jakarta, Indonesia, and Klang, Malaysia. A third system is headed to Can Tho in the Mekong Delta in Vietnam, the group says, and a fourth is destined for the Dominican Republic.
“We need to close the tap, which means preventing more plastic from reaching the ocean in the first place,” he said.
Source: Global News, Cnet
Image: Business Insider