Global Courant
The non-profit organization The Ocean Cleanup, whose mission is to clean the oceans of plastics and solid waste, announced that the new Interceptor 006 barricade, installed in mid-May on the Las Vacas River, has performed well in this start of the year. rainy season.
According to The Ocean Cleanup, as of June 13 they have removed an estimated 856,973 kilograms of garbage (equivalent to 256 trucks). Its waste retention capacity augurs a promising future in the organization’s effort to stop the floods of garbage that flow every year from the Las Vacas River to the Motagua River and finally to the Caribbean Sea.
“We are excited about the good start that Interceptor 006 has had, preventing more than 800,000 kg of garbage from reaching the Caribbean Sea,” said Boyan Slat, founder and CEO of The Ocean Cleanup. “Now we await the real test: a strong flood and a tsunami of garbage that brings hundreds of tons of plastic in just a few hours, with the hope that we can fully validate our solution and put an end to these annual floods of plastic in the Caribbean Sea. ”.
Photos: This is how the Interceptor 006 barricade has intercepted tons of garbage on the Las Vacas river
How the 006 interceptor works on the Las Vacas River
In 2022, The Ocean Cleanup conducted its initial trial of its Interceptor solution, installing the Interceptor Trashfence, an 8-meter-tall fence on the Las Vacas River that was designed to let water through but block trash. Although the barricade was initially able to contain the tons of debris rushing down the river, it eventually gave way and most of the trash was lost.
According to the organization, after that, they studied why it didn’t work as planned and came up with a new plan that led to developing the new version, “consequently, we are now implementing a new type of Interceptor in an attempt to finish the job that was started.” a year ago”.
The Oceann Cleanup acknowledged that the Interceptor Trashfence was unsuccessful because the composition of the trash in the river once it reached the fence prevented the water from flowing to a greater extent than intended. This caused the water to be pushed down, eroding the river bed around these foundations, causing the fence to give way under the enormous forces of the water and the tons of trash.
“While it was extremely frustrating to see vast amounts of plastic pollution slipping through our fingers, Interceptor Trashfence generated a wealth of useful data and learning, and we knew we were not far from finding a solution. So as a team we got over our disappointment and got back to work.
This was the Interceptor Trashfence barricade, installed in the Las Vacas River by The Ocean Cleanup in 2022. (Free Press Photo: The Ocean Cleanup)
the new barricade
After identifying that the main problem that had weakened the Interceptor Trashfence was the foundations, The Ocean Cleanup developed the new Interceptor 006 solution, capable of containing large amounts of plastic and at the same time allowing sufficient water flow to reduce pressures in the system. . That’s how it works:
Floating bars. This is a system of extremely strong floating barriers placed along the river to efficiently capture plastic, while allowing water to pass freely below the surface. Reservoir lake. It is placed in a reservoir lake of the hydroelectric plant, on the Las Vacas river, near Chinautla, about 16 km north of Guatemala City. Less pressure. Because the flow velocity here is expected to be lower than at the original location (500 meters higher), the pressures in the system will decrease. Double capture system. To design the interceptor barricade, The Ocean Cleanup collaborated with Worthington Products, a US-based company that specializes in river debris control solutions. This resulted in the development of a system of two booms: one upstream with a length of 51 meters and a second downstream with a length of 107 meters to capture everything that the upstream barrier cannot capture. Anchored foundations. Each of the arms is chained to two concrete foundations on the river bank. By anchoring the barriers using foundations that are on dry land (rather than in the riverbed), erosion problems are avoided. The foundations consist of large concrete deadweight anchors (for which 144 cubic meters of concrete mix were poured), each secured by six 8.5-meter-deep piles. Mesh that minimizes leaks. It is designed so that the tension of the anchor chains can be increased or decreased when necessary, or the steel webbing above and below each of the arms can be adjusted to minimize leakage or improve flotation. Garbage removal. Trash captured by the interceptor barricade is removed with shore-operated excavators, and through local partners and waste management authorities, is sent to a waste sorting center for testing recycling operations.
