Plastic pollution is well known and well documented. Populations and governments are generally aware of its damaging effects, whatever their level of education in ecology, industrial development, GDP... In Western countries, we could easily say that 100% of the population wants a clean planet free of plastic pollution: it's just common sense. And yet, millions of tonnes of plastic waste continue to pour into the oceans, even in Europe and the USA. Ocean currents collect and concentrate all this plastic waste in "gyres", giant whirlpools that trap it to form gigantic areas of "plastic soup".

There are a LOT of projects to combat plastic waste and protect the oceans from this pollution. Some might even say "too many", as the budgets invested are spread too thinly instead of focusing on the real solutions. We'd get lost: Echos d'Océans has counted no fewer than 32 associations and foundations dedicated to the problem of plastics in the sea, in France alone. From beach clean-ups to ocean-going cleaning vessels, from education to political lobbying, these projects are all part of a collective effort to change things. But which ones to support? Which ones keep their promises? And where to start?

Macro, mini, micro or even nano plastic waste: it's incredibly complicated to develop reliable, efficient and cost-effective systems to clean up the oceans. It's much simpler to recover this waste at its source: cities, rivers, ports.

Cleaning up harbours and rivers

80% of plastics in the oceans come from waste dumped on land: transported by rivers and streams, by inadequately sized wastewater treatment plants, by tourists visiting coastal areas, etc. So why not start with the simple idea of collecting, filtering and cleaning rivers and harbors? On a global scale!

The ports

We're all used to street sweepers. Every small town has at least one to clean the sidewalks and gutters, and suck up all kinds of garbage. Close to cities, harbors concentrate waste. Cleaning them, at the very least on the surface, seems to be a basic responsibility for local authorities. Harbors could easily be equipped with the same type of equipment: specialized boats to vacuum and treat harbor waste. Budgets are roughly equivalent: 100kE for a land-based sweeper or cleaning boat powered by an internal combustion engine, 200kE for a sweeper or cleaning boat powered by an electric motor. Operating and maintenance costs are also equivalent: one or 2 sailors are needed, depending on the size of the boat. So, is the question of cost just an excuse to get rid of the issue of water cleaning under the responsibility of a municipality?

These boats are now being built on an industrial scale. Echos d'Océans has identified a few projects as examples.

Boats

The EFINOR group has developed a complete line of cleaning boats: from harbor craft to ocean-going vessels for cleaning up oil pollution. A subsidiary of an industrial group (formerly Ecocéane) based in Brittany (Paimpol), this company has already sold over a hundred cleaning boats in 30 countries. EFINOR seacleaner has developed a "double flow" technology to clean up liquid as well as solid pollutants: its boats can absorb pollutants from 500kg solids/1 m3 liquids for the smallest, up to 200 t solids/300 m3 liquids for the largest. The interesting idea is that the suction flow created by these small boats is sufficient to create a current between the boats moored to the purlins, thus avoiding the need to squeeze between the boats. Like street-sweeper vacuums!

Drones

Another more recent French company has come up with the idea of developing a drone to clean up harbors: the jellyfish boat. Based in the Bouches du Rhône region of France, iadys has already sold around twenty of its drones, which clean up macro-waste in harbors. By coupling 2 drones together, a net can be trawled to increase collection capacity. With an autonomy of 6 to 8 hours and remote control (400m max), this small drone can clean 1000m2 per hour. Its low purchase and maintenance costs, its maneuverability, which enables it to sneak in anywhere, and its ease of use have already won over remote ports in Asia and Denmark. New versions are currently being tested, with the aim of turning them into fully-fledged robots without human control.

Skimmer

Have you ever seen them? They're like little flared buoys that float on the surface. Attached to purlins or pontoons, they independently collect macro-waste that is sucked up by the natural current. Like a pool skimmer. Harvesting capacity is limited, but these systems consume no energy (archimedes' buoyancy causes a natural oscillation). For example, the skimmer developed by seabin project has been installed in some 30 marinas, representing 860 skimmers that have collected over 832 tonnes of waste. The company has also signed a partnership agreement with leading pontoon builder poralu marine.

The rivers

The Californian association The Ocean Clean-up, criticized by some scientists for its giant autonomous net project to capture macro-waste in the North Pacific, is now focusing on cleaning up rivers with its "interceptor" barge. According to the association, 80% of plastics are discharged into the world's 1,000 rivers. All we have to do is install 1,000 interceptors, and we're done!

In conclusion, the harbor and river cleaning market seems to be taking shape thanks to political will in Western countries: manufacturers will be able to deploy effective solutions at reasonable costs in the short/medium term. But the real question is how to deploy these solutions in African, Asian or Indian countries, where awareness of plastic pollution is relatively low. But we can remain hopeful:

• The Ocean Clean Up has just received $1M from an association in Santa Barbara (California) to set up an "interceptor" in Jamaica.
• California-based 4Ocean raises funds to fish plastics in Bali and Haiti.

Western funds will undoubtedly help raise awareness in these countries.