Environment

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Environmental and ecological discussion, particularly of things like weather and other natural phenomena (especially if they're not breaking news).

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Viral ‘plastic-eating’ boat removes 3 tons of garbage per hour: ‘This is actually so cool’ (lighthouse-eco.co.za)

submitted 1 year ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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An ingenious solution to rid our oceans of plastic waste has been going viral after climate-positive content creator Sam Bentley explained the terrific technology.

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[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (2 children)

It is very cool. I am not sure how they are avoiding scooping out marine life while gathering the garbage. It looks like it can avoid scooping up something large, like a dolphin, but what about smaller organisms like jellyfish?

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 year ago

https://www.theseacleaners.org/faqs/

The boat is playing infrasound noise to scare animals away. The catch is sorted manually, where they remove animals and other organic matter.

I wouldn't worry about jellyfish particularly. There's way too many of them.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I guess the slow moving conveyer belt give animals time to get out of the way before getting captured. The Sea Cleaners FAQ also says the following.

Will this boat be a nuisance for the marine fauna and flora?

Every effort is made to minimize the impact on marine fauna and flora. In particular, the boat will be equipped with an infrasound system to keep marine animals away from the boat by scattering fish and marine mammals when approaching the boat.

Waste sorting will be done manually: the few living organisms and the organic waste that will get caught in the collection mats will be immediately put back into the water, without damage.

Except in special cases, anchoring will not be necessary, so the impact on the sea grass beds and marine flora will be minimized, and the calls will be scheduled in ports equipped with infrastructures to handle the cargoes of waste brought back by the vessel.

https://www.theseacleaners.org/faqs/