The Ocean Cleanup has released The Interceptor, an autonomous boat, to address plastic pollution in rivers ending up in oceans…

The ‘Interceptor’ is a legit solution to our Plastic pollution problems. We know plastic is a formidable global problem. We’ve literally dumped plastic to the deepest trenches of the sea where even research vessels have difficulty reaching. This Dutch non-profit rightly points out that a majority of this plastic waste is flowing in through rivers. Simply, we dump waste plastic in the river. The river, in turn, dumps it into the ocean. The solution is to collect and extract all this plastic waste before it enters the open sea. The Interceptor can pull out 50,000kg of trash in a day, which can be scaled for more if needed. Excellent plan this…

It was exciting to watch The Ocean Cleanup founder Boyan Slat walking through this autonomous boat explaining how the entire process works. Very simply you direct the flow of Plastic Pollution towards its conveyor belt through a barrier. It shuttles all the trash and collects it in dumpsters, all 6 of them. The Interceptor then notifies authorities that its full and should be emptied to collect more. It operates completely on solar power and is completely autonomous in its working. I also love the fact that the conveyor belt is perforated completely so as not to interrupt the flow of water in any way.

It is clean, efficient and nonintrusive to the flow of water. Yes, India is a significant source of plastic pollution. We need these solutions to quickly address the problems which are serious elephants in the room.

https://theoceancleanup.com/sources/

These Interceptors are placed at carefully selected positions depending on the flow and width of any river. Our majors like Ganga, Yamuna, Narmada, Tapti, Bhramputra are large rivers with a lot of plastic trash being added to the ocean.

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