A remarkable machine that is designed to remove plastic waste from our waters was rolled out today under the Berlage bridge in Groningen. The innovation called CirCleaner is the invention of the Delft company Noria, RTV Noord reports.
Rinze de Vries, one of the founders of Noria, says the device, which has a diameter of approximately three and a half meters, consists of a hollow shaft with five blades that rotate against the flow direction. “These blades rotate slowly. The plastic waste they scoop up falls through an opening in the hollow shaft, which is also a collection container. That container can be later emptied,” de Vries says.
“At the moment the CirCleaner still runs on electricity from the grid’, de Vries continues. “But the ultimate goal is to utilize solar energy or hydropower, so that it can be used everywhere, including the developing world.”
The Eemskanaal’s floating waste is led to the entrance of the CirCleaner by two floating screens which are placed on the side of the canal where most of the plastic ends up due to the wind and current.
“In the near future, we hope to do test runs in various places to gain insight into the amount of plastic in the water,” says De Vries. “We are doing this within the framework of the ‘Stop Plastic from City to Wad’ project.” The company says the project is being carried out on behalf of Rijkswaterstaat Northern Netherlands, Water Board Noorderzijlvest, Municipality of Groningen, Groningen Seaports and is financially supported by the Wadden Fund. The Stop Plastic project from City to Wad will run from 2021 to 2024. According to Noria, using the CirCleaner is one of the ways to gain insight into the amount of plastic waste and and best ways for its removal.
