New boat against plastic waste presented in Geneva
Published: Thursday, Apr 25th 2024, 14:50
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The environmental protection organization SeaCleaners presented the new model of its boat for removing plastic waste in Geneva on Thursday. The Mobula 8.2, which was built in Brittany and is to be shipped to Malaysia, can clean an area of 15,000 square meters per hour.
"The boat is named after the mobula ray, which filters the water to feed itself," explained Antoine Iché, project coordinator for operations at SeaCleaners, in Geneva on Thursday. As soon as the mouth on the bow of the boat is opened, two side rakes comb through a width of 4 meters and suck up floating waste to a depth of 40 cm.
The waste ends up in a basket in the middle of the boat. This cage is then lifted and emptied on site for initial sorting. Up to 2.3 tons of waste can be stored on the boat.
A first model of the Mobula has been working in Bali for eight months. Founded in 2016 by French-Swiss adventurer and record-breaking sailor Yvan Bourgnon, the SeaCleaners organization started from the observation that one tonne of plastic enters the ocean every three seconds and that action must be taken in advance by "turning off the tap at the source", as Benoit de Torcy, General Manager for SeaCleaners Switzerland, explained.
After a promotional tour, the Mobula 8.2 will be shipped to Malaysia on a container ship. In the longer term, there are plans to build more boats locally to reduce the environmental impact.
The 9.2 meter long and 3.8 meter wide aluminum boat was designed to collect waste in rivers, estuaries, mangrove forests and near harbors. It can travel up to 6 miles from the coast at sea. The improved model can collect macro waste, but also liquids such as diesel, which are sucked up by a sponge at the rear of the boat.
"Manta" collects garbage at sea
With the ocean-going catamaran "Manta", the organization has already developed a ship that can collect and recycle floating plastic waste on the high seas. This ship is due to be launched in 2027. The 56.5-metre-long and 26-metre-wide catamaran will be able to move across the oceans emission-free using a new type of propulsion concept and collect up to 10,000 pieces of plastic waste per year.
©Keystone/SDA
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