Fishing for Litter
15. Environmental Design
Tackling ocean pollution at its source.
Our oceans are overflowing with litter, primarily entering through rivers. By intercepting litter as it drifts down these waterways, we have the potential to reduce ocean-bound trash by up to 80%.
We've created a system that captures and collects litter from rivers, addressing the issue right at its source. As litter slowly floats downstream with the current, our system fishes out plastic and other trash that swims atop the river's surface.
Barrier network system.
This system will passively collect litter using the river's current and the drop shape to guide plastic towards the tail of each catcher. Debris flows along the catcher and becomes trapped at its tail.
The water that comes into contact with the catcher's smooth surface will accelerate due to the drop shape. This acceleration will create re-circulating pools on both sides of the drop, attracting more water and litter towards the catcher.
Diving into the three components system.
The system consists of three components: the floating barrier network system, positioned near the river outfall; the vessel, responsible for collecting litter from the catchers; and the cleaning stations, situated along the riverbanks.
The floating barrier network system is located near the river outfall, spanning 1 km in length and 1.5 km in width, effectively covering a significant portion of the river to capture a majority of the debris. Within this designated area, catchers are strategically placed every 150 meters.
