Every year millions of tons of plastic waste end up in our ocean water which eventually affects marine life. So companies are coming up with devices that can help reduce the plastic problem in our oceans. One of these companies has developed a device called Wastesharks that can swallow the plastic waste in oceans.
RanMarine Technology Will Change The Future Of Plastic Waste In Oceans
The Dutch company RanMarine has developed an aquatic drone that is 157 centimeters wide called Wasteshark. This device can capture rubbish from the ocean and bring them back to land.
According to RanMarine Technology, these drones can hold up to 160 liters of trash, i.e. plastic waste floating in the ocean. The drone’s design is inspired by whale sharks that swim with their mouths wide open to capture their prey.
“This is why we have two pontoons, one on each side, that allow the waste to come in from the front and get captured in between the pontoons,” explains Tessa Despinic, Design Engineer at RanMarine Technology.
WasteShark by RanMarine is designed to remove floating pollution in our oceans, such as plastic, algae, and biomass from lakes, ponds, waterways, and harbors.
“It’s crucial to scoop up the plastic waste before it reaches the large ocean expanse,” says Nancy Wallace, Director of the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Marine Debris Program.
“Once the plastic or trash ends up in the ocean, it’s very hard to collect it back because it starts breaking down. It gets smaller and smaller which makes it harder to collect the trash there. We’d much rather collect that trash closer to shore, which is easier and it’s less costly,” she says.
The most crucial thing about marine debris is that we don’t want it to pollute our ocean water in the first place. We need to start working on generating less plastic for the consumers to use so there is less plastic waste overall.
