Interceptor (Credit: The Ocean Cleanup)
According to an article on Environmentalleader.com, the Ocean Cleanup has launched what it calls the world’s first scalable solution for removing plastic from rivers, following the announcement of a collaboration of parent company Danone with The Ocean Cleanup at the World Economic Forum in Davos in 2018.
The development of The Ocean Cleanup Interceptor has been supported by a two-year research mission between the Dutch nonprofit startup and Danone. Sharing decades of packaging know-how, Danone, along with brands Evian and Aqua, have been able to help The Ocean Cleanup analyze and categorize the collected debris from the first prototype in Indonesia, as well as understand better the challenges in extracting and treating the waste that is recovered.
This new technology aims to stop plastic waste from entering oceans by first intercepting it from rivers. The Interceptor, which is 100% solar powered and uses the natural forces of the current, aims to extract up to 50,000 kgs of plastic waste a day from the 1,000 most polluted rivers around the world.
