Giant Vacuum Plonked Into Polluted River To Clean It Up

Story By: Ana Marjanovic, Sub EditorJoseph GolderAgencyAsia Wire Report

Video Credit: AsiaWire/The Ocean Cleanup

A giant ‘vacuum cleaner’ has been deployed on a severely polluted Malaysian river by a European NGO to clean it up for free for the next year.

The Dutch NGO Ocean Cleanup has developed the ‘Interceptor’, a huge floating vacuum cleaner that can remove 100,000 kilogrammes (220,462 lbs) of rubbish from rivers every day.

The Interceptor has been docked on the Klang River in the western Malaysian state of Selangor for the last two months, according to reports.

Picture Credit: AsiaWire/The Ocean Cleanup

It is being for the ‘Big Cleanup’ which is part of the Selangor Maritime Gateway (SMG) initiative to clean the state’s polluted rivers.

Ocean Cleanup is reportedly collaborating with a state-owned company to provide a one-year free cleanup service.

A recent study showed that most of the nine main rivers of Selangor are severely polluted.

As well as Malaysia, the Interceptor has also been deployed in Jakarta in Indonesia, according to local media.

Interceptor inventor Boyan Slat said during a recent press conference: “Ocean Cleanup’s main mission is to rid the oceans of plastic waste.

“To do that we have to do two things, clean up what was already in the ocean as well as prevent more plastic from reaching the ocean.

“One percent of rivers are responsible for 80 percent of the plastic entering the ocean.

“Back in 2015, we started with the river project and the result is the Interceptor.”

The Interceptor runs on solar power and plans are in place to send one to Vietnam and the Dominican Republic.

Talks are underway for an Interceptor to be deployed in Bangkok in Thailand and Ocean Cleanup said they are in discussions to use one in L.A. County in the USA.

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