Environment & Energy

cbabe

(6,936 posts) Fri Jun 12, 2026, 11:40 AM 15 hrs ago

A solar-powered rubbish-eating boat? The vessel chomping plastic waste out of the sea

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/jun/12/solar-powered-rubbish-eating-boat-plastic-waste-sea

A solar-powered rubbish-eating boat? The vessel chomping plastic waste out of the sea

Guided by floating barriers, the Interceptor has already stopped more than 143,000lbs of rubbish from entering the Pacific from one LA river

By Katharine Gammon
June 12, 2026

…

The contraption is actually two barges – a smaller platform sits nestled inside the larger boat. A floating barrier directs rubbish into the device, where a conveyor belt scoops it up. An automated shuttle then distributes the waste into six dumpsters on a separate barge, sending an alert to crews when it is full. Above, solar panels form the ceiling and a conveyor belt runs slowly, dropping bits of plastic and waste into each of the bins. The whole thing can hold about 20,000lbs (9,070kg) of rubbish – the same as one fully loaded lorry.

Since it is the dry season in LA there is not much waste being washed down the river by rainfall. But I still see what the problems are: polystyrene takeaway containers, noodle cups, bottle caps, a yellow pencil, a palm frond dotted with colourful pieces of microplastics. They are all caught up in the boat’s conveyor belt. It’s a pretty representative sample, says James Patterson, the operations manager with the nonprofit Ocean Cleanup, which created the system. “You get a wide variety of basic plastics – a lot of bottles, cups, to-go containers, things from restaurants. That’s typically what we see out here,” he says.

When the waste is pulled out, it is sorted and sent to refuse facilities. “We want to make sure that from start to finish, we’re pulling the trash out in a responsible way, and it’s getting sorted or stored in a responsible manner,” Patterson says. “We don’t want a circular battery of trash here.”

This particular barge is a model for others being deployed around the world. Ocean Cleanup operates in 10 places, with 21 Interceptor systems – in countries including Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam, Guatemala, Jamaica and the Dominican Republic. It aims to clean up the 30 most-polluted cities by 2030. The big idea? Stop waste from ever reaching the ocean. “Instead of specific rivers, the goal is to clean up an entire area, because that’s how you get an actual genuine impact on society and on the environment,” Patterson says.

… more …

3 replies

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Highlight:

A solar-powered rubbish-eating boat? The vessel chomping plastic waste out of the sea (Original Post) cbabe 15 hrs ago OP

The Ocean Cleanup OKIsItJustMe 15 hrs ago #1

Please forgive me if this is a tangent, but snot 13 hrs ago #2

Plastic packaging of food is also a health hazard OKIsItJustMe 10 hrs ago #3

OKIsItJustMe

(22,335 posts)

1. The Ocean Cleanup

Reply to cbabe (Original post)

Fri Jun 12, 2026, 11:44 AM

15 hrs ago

https://theoceancleanup.com/

snot

(11,879 posts)

2. Please forgive me if this is a tangent, but

Reply to cbabe (Original post)

Fri Jun 12, 2026, 01:58 PM

13 hrs ago

I'm also freaked out at the amount of wasteful plastic packaging we now allow, apparently without imposing any cost on the companies that create this waste. I go to a lot of effort to facilitate recycling, but it seems like every meal generates at least 3 or four empty plastic containers (plus yet more packaging involved in non-food household, medicinal, and other products).

This excessive use of plastic imposed extraordinary, externalized costs on our environment, since it is much more expensive if not impossible to clean up all the waste and other ill effects of continuing to use plastic. Even if using other forms of packaging would be more expensive, I feel sure that those costs would be far less than the total costs of continuing to use plastic.

Imho, plastic packaging should be banned wherever any other type of container is feasible; and/or at the minimum, manufacturers that insist on continuing to use plastic packaging should be required to pay for the real costs being externalized onto the environment and consumers. While we're at it, we should also require that any of the little plastic rings that are so often used in packaging must me easily breakable, so consumers don't have to spend time cutting them in order to make sure they won't strangle growing turtles or other wildlife.

I've written to my federal representatives about this, with no meaningful response.

OKIsItJustMe

(22,335 posts)

3. Plastic packaging of food is also a health hazard

Reply to snot (Reply #2)

Fri Jun 12, 2026, 05:03 PM

10 hrs ago

https://www.greenpeace.org/static/planet4-international-stateless/2026/02/4f252420-hidden-health-risks-of-plastic-packaged-ready-meals-final.pdf

ARE WE COOKED?
THE HIDDEN HEALTH RISKS OF PLASTIC-PACKAGED READY MEALS

SUMMARY
Ready meals and takeaways promise convenience - hot food, fast. The labels on the plastic trays reassure us that they are ‘safe’ to heat in a microwave or oven. But are we exposed to potentially dangerous microplastics and chemical additives along with our food?

We decided to check. Greenpeace International's analysis of 24 research papers in peer-reviewed scientific journals found that the plastics we use to package our food are exposing us to health risks – and none more so than heated ready meals and takeaways.

Specifically:

Plastic containers can release microplastics and toxic chemicals into our food.
Leaching into food dramatically increases when the food is heated in the plastic packaging.

Regulators and the industry are failing to act on the plastics problem, which is already
causing a global waste crisis, yet the production of plastic is set to more than double by 2050 from current levels. The fossil fuel and petrochemical industry is banking on this for its future growth – and relying on the growing trend for plastic packaged ready meals.

…

https://foodpackagingforum.org/news/consumer-plastics-can-release-billions-of-microplastics-report-finds

Consumer plastics can release billions of microplastics, report finds

Report from Plastic Soup Foundation reviews scientific literature on microplastics; highlights sources in five consumer product categories, including food; shares FCMiNo as searchable resource for evidence on microplastics in food from food contact articles; describes challenges with quality of scientific studies; asserts need for action

April 27, 2026
Catherine Crawford-Brown

On April 8, 2026, Plastic Soup Foundation published a scoping report titled “Exploring Everyday Microplastic Exposures: Recent evidence of products delivering microplastic to humans.” Researched and written by Heather A. Leslie, an independent scientist and consultant with academic experience in sustainability, plastics, chemicals, environment, and health, the report outlines how humans are exposed to microplastics through the everyday use of plastic products.

Based on 350 peer-reviewed articles, the report demonstrates that “common consumer plastic products can collectively shed billions of microplastics at close range.” Evidence for microplastic exposure was shown across five key product categories: food, indoor, outdoor, children’s, and personal care.

Humans are exposed to microplastics through food packaging, other sources
Within the food category, heating or microwaving plastic containers (e.g., tea bags, takeout containers) and using plastic kitchen utensils (e.g., cutting boards, mixing bowls) were found to be “prolific microplastic generators.” The report specifically highlighted findings from the Food Packaging Forum (FPF) demonstrating that the normal and intended use of everyday food packaging can result in microplastic migration (FPF reported). It pointed to FPF’s FCMiNo database as a searchable resource compiling scientific evidence for microplastics in food that was in contact with plastic food contact articles. Indeed, many of the studies reviewed in the report’s “Food packaging sources” section can be found in FCMiNo.

…

Do you prefer to drink from an aluminum can, rather than a plastic bottle, to avoid the various chemicals leaching from the plastic? Surprise! Your "aluminum can” is essentially a plastic bag, reinforced with an aluminum shell.

Do you like tomato paste and tomato sauce from steel cans? Surprise! Steel cans have plastic liners to protect the metal from their contents, if the contents are acidic (like tomato products) the plastic linings leach chemicals even faster.

Cooking oil, vinegar, from a plastic bottle? Bad idea! Many of the chemicals leached from plastics are "fat soluble."

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