‘The Ocean Cleanup’ an organisation founded in 2013, aims to clean up to 90 percent of plastic pollution in the ocean by 2040 by deploying floaters at strategic locations where debris would naturally accumulate, as well as setting up 1,000 autonomous cleaning devices, ‘InterceptorsTM, in major rivers across the globe in the next five years.
According to research by The Ocean Cleanup, the Klang River is one of the fifty most polluted rivers worldwide. In Malaysia, the active InterceptorTM , are currently being used to filter debris in the Klang River and hence, successfully would effectively ensure a cleaner Straits of Malacca.
These InterceptorsTM are capable of extracting up to 50,000 kg of trash per day and are currently cleaning up major rivers in the Netherlands and South East Asia. Each Interceptor system has a storage capacity of 50m3 (roughly the volume of ten adult elephants) and feature protective coatings from AkzoNobel’s International product range, notably Intershield 300 – an industry leading anticorrosive universal primer with an extensive track record of 30 years. The supplied coatings system provides high performance anti-corrosion, with minimal maintenance required.
To date, Four Interceptors™ have been built – two systems are already operational in Jakarta (Indonesia) and Klang (Malaysia). A third system is being installed in the Mekong Delta in Vietnam, while the fourth is destined to be deployed in Santo Domingo (Dominican Republic).
“As official coatings partner to The Ocean Cleanup, we’re fully committed to supporting the fantastic work they’re doing to stop the world drowning in plastic,” Jean Michel Gauthier, Global Business Director for AkzoNobel’s Marine, Protective and Yacht Coatings business, said.
He also added that, as well as supplying marine coatings with a proven track record, their experts were also involved in the design of the Interceptor devices, so are excited to see them deployed in rivers around the world.
The partnership between AkzoNobel and The Ocean Cleanup was launched in 2017. Technical teams from both parties are continuing to work closely together to develop coatings solutions for the ocean cleaning systems, which are still in the prototype phase. Testing of the devices is continuing in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, with work on the latest prototype already underway.
