Story By: Lee Bullen,Sub Editor: Joseph Golder,Agency: Asia Wire Report
The is the viral moment the ‘Interceptor 002’ floating vacuum cleaner scoops up a large teddy bear that happened to be passing when its inventor Boyan Slat started filming.
The ‘Interceptor 002’ has been docked on the Klang River in the western Malaysian state of Selangor for the last two months, according to reports.
The Interceptor is being used for the ‘Big Cleanup’ which is part of the Selangor Maritime Gateway (SMG) initiative to clean the state’s polluted rivers.
A recent study showed that most of the nine main rivers of Selangor are severely polluted.
The huge floating vacuum cleaners, developed by the Dutch NGO Ocean Cleanup, can remove 100,000 kilogrammes (220,462 lbs) of rubbish from rivers every day.
Ocean Cleanup is reportedly collaborating with a state-owned company to provide a one-year free cleanup service on the Malaysian river.
In the viral Ocean Cleanup video, viewed by over a million people on Facebook, Interceptor inventor Boyan Slat says to the camera: “Alright, so we are here on the Interceptor 002 on the Klang River in Malaysia.”
In that moment, he appears to go off-script to point to an item just collected by the Interceptor’s barrier, saying: “That’s a teddy bear!
“I don’t know who throws in a teddy bear, but it’s coming…”
He later assures viewers: “I swear, we did not put this teddy bear in. It just comes by.”
Some of the other rubbish collected by the Interceptor so far includes helmets, handbags and plastic bags.
As well as Malaysia, Interceptors have been deployed in Jakarta in Indonesia, according to local media.
The Interceptor runs on solar power and plans are in place to send one to Vietnam and the Dominican Republic.
Talks are also 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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