the ocean cleanup prepares production of floating garbage trucks to clean polluted rivers

in 2019, the ocean cleanup — the dutch non-profit organization developing advanced technologies to rid the world’s oceans of plastic — unveiled the interceptor, a solar-powered floating device designed to scoop plastic out of rivers before it reaches oceans. in what seems like a huge step towards tackling the world’s 1,000 most polluting rivers, the ocean cleanup has partnered with konecranes to design, manufacture and service a new generation of the ocean cleanup’s interceptor.

the ocean cleanup was nominated for THE DESIGN PRIZE 2019 in the category of social impact.

images by the ocean cleanup

the ocean cleanup’s interceptor is an autonomous vessel which can extract 50,000 kilograms of trash from a river each day. to accomplish this task, it uses floating barriers that catch waste and guides it towards an opening. the currents then move the debris into a conveyor belt which extracts it from the water and delivers it to a shuttle which distributes the debris across dumpsters. using sensor data, the containers are filled equally until they reach full capacity.

deploying interceptors on a large scale is necessary to quickly address the urgent problem of plastic pollution. by partnering with konecranes, the ocean cleanup has began the manufacturing of interceptors 005 and 006 at their partner’s MHE-demag facility in klang, malaysia, and expects them to be ready by may 2021. moving forward, konecranes will handle interceptor manufacturing, installation, and maintenance; local partners will oversee operations, and the ocean cleanup will continue to act as the technology and best practices provider as well as lead business development for upcoming interceptor projects.

‘at the end of a very challenging year, I am happy to see series production begin for the interceptor,’ founder and CEO of the ocean cleanup, boyan slat remarked on this new partnership. ‘it is a necessary step for us to tackle the global flow of plastic pollution to our oceans at scale. I believe konecranes is well-suited for the job and we look forward to seeing them build many more interceptors in the coming years. I am thankful for their commitment to clean oceans.’