Giving Compass' Take:
- Ruscena Wiederholt discusses the Great Bubble Barrier, a bubble curtain installed in waterways across the Netherlands and Portugal, as a means to prevent plastic pollution from reaching the sea.
- How can the philanthropic sector help address the fact that 70 to 80 percent of the ocean’s pollution stems from rivers and coastlines?
- Search for a nonprofit focused on ending plastic pollution.
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Bottles and bubbles: A good combination in more ways than one? While barriers for collecting plastic in rivers are becoming more commonplace, effervescence is an unlikely ally in this fight. But it turns out that placing a curtain of bubbles across a waterway directs plastic to the surface, where a catchment system can collect it and keep it from reaching the ocean.
This may seem like a drop in the bucket, but 70 to 80 percent of the ocean’s pollution stems from rivers and coastlines. With around 1.7 million tons of plastic ending up there each year, our oceans are literally drowning in trash. Marine life can become entangled in plastic or ingest it, leading to toxic chemical exposure, poor nutrition and even starvation. When we eat seafood, we can inadvertently consume the same plastic. And beaches and coastal environments filled with litter can deter tourists, impacting jobs and local economies.
Companies catching plastic closer to the source, like the Great Bubble Barrier, are a formidable ally for our less-than-pristine waters. Founded by a group of sailing enthusiasts, the company’s signature design was inspired by one night over a fizzy libation. Could these same bubbles help clean up the plastic they were seeing in waterways? The answer was yes, with a little technology thrown in.
Bubble Power
Starting in 2017, the Great Bubble Barrier has installed barriers in cities across the Netherlands and Portugal, with plans to expand to the United Kingdom, the United States and Southeast Asia. Yet, the basic design remains the same in all locations.
“We place a perforated tube at the bottom of the waterway,” said Carla Wessels, marketing and communications director of the Great Bubble Barrier. “We push compressed air through that tube. It creates a curtain of bubbles, and the natural flow of the river then pushes plastic up against the curtain, upwards and towards the catchment system. The catchment system can then be emptied on a regular basis by the local waste authority.”
Read the full article about the Great Bubble Barrier by Ruscena Wiederholt at TriplePundit.