The Interceptor by The Ocean Cleanup is the Saviour of the Polluted Rivers…

Image credit: The Ocean Cleanup

The Interceptor :

One of the biggest problems of our century is plastic pollution. There’s no place on earth now that the environment-hazardous plastic hasn’t touched, from the tallest peak in the world – Mt Everest to the deepest known point on earth – The Mariana Trench, from the hottest dry deserts to the coldest continent, not a single landmass or a waterbody is spared from the dangerous plastic’s reach.

If the same trend of plastic polluting our planet continues, we’ll soon have to look for a new planet for us humans to survive. Environmentalists, scientists, and NGOs from all across the world are trying hard to raise awareness and bring out the latest innovations to tackle this global problem. Even though there are few solutions available right now, they aren’t 100% efficient.

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The Interceptor, the most formidable plastic-hunter…

Keeping all these problems in mind, The Ocean Cleanup, a non-profit organization has developed ‘The Interceptor’, a technology which is now most probably the most efficient solution up-to-date to get rid of plastic from the water bodies.

According to the ocean cleanup’s research, about one thousand rivers around the planet are responsible for 80% of the plastic ending up in the vast oceans, hence rather than constantly trying to clean up the vast oceans which is impossible, the organization has come up with ‘The Interceptor’ to fight this problem at its source.

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This is how it works…

The Interceptors are strategically positioned in the polluted rivers or where they meet the ocean.

These floating garbage boats are entirely powered by solar energy and are 100% autonomous. The Interceptor lays a floating barrier and uses the river current to direct all the debris towards its system.

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Then the collected debris from its mouth hit a ride on the system’s conveyor belt on to a shuttle, once the shuttle’s full, it autonomously distributes the waste into the six dumpsters on the barge.

There’s no need for any personnel to be present on deck and can keep an eye on the entire process from any part of the world as it’s connected.

Once all the dumpsters are full the interceptor automatically sends a notification to its operators to empty the barge.

The ocean cleanup stated that the Interceptor can collect 50,000 kg of waste on average and up to 100,000 kg per day when it’s at full potential.

Since it’s 100% solar-powered and runs on a 20 kWh lithium-ion battery, it does not require any re-fueling in the middle, the floating garbage truck can work 24/7.

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The organization’s 1st two prototype Interceptors was deployed in the Cingkareng Drain in Jakarta, Indonesia, and the Klang River in Malaysia in 2016 and have proved to be extremely efficient.

The organization is aiming to clean 1000 rivers in 5 years. If this mission truly becomes successful it’ll be one of the biggest cleanup missions in human history.

Al last, no matter how many missions we undertake, if we continue to pollute our environment at the same rate, it’ll soon be too late to recover back from the devastating effects which we are already starting to wittness across the globe.