Solutions to Litter in Water
Mr. Trash Wheel
The conveyor belt on Mr. Trash Wheel is slow, but can pull up everything up from tires to mattresses.
If you lined up all the cigarette butts collected by Mr. Trash Wheel, they would stretch over 150 miles!
Trash collected by Baltimore’s Mr. Trash Wheel is incinerated to generate electricity.
On a sunny day, the solar panels can produce 2,500 watts of electricity—enough to power a typical Maryland home.
The most Mr. Trash Wheel has ever collected in a single day is 38,000 lbs.
The Story of Mr. Trash Wheel
One day, a person named John Kellet invented a clever solution to getting rid of trash in Baltimore's inner harbor. Here is how it works:
Diagonal poles funnel all the litter to the middle of Jones Fall Stream, a river that flows into the inner harbor.
The middle of the river is were Mr. Trash Wheel is located, so the filters filter the trash and then the litter go's up a conveyor belt, into the machine.
The electricity used to power Mr. Trash Wheel is generated with a water wheel. When the current isn't strong, there are solar panels for backup power.
There is a dumpster that trash falls into at the top of the conveyor belt. When the dumpster is full, it is towed away and replaced with an empty one.
Other Trash Wheels
Professor Trash Wheel
Professor Trash Wheel was installed at Harris Creek, Baltimore, MD on December 4, 2016
Captain Trash Wheel
Captain Trash Wheel was installed at Masonville Cove, Baltimore, MD on June 5, 2018
Gwynnda the Good Wheel of the West
Gwynnda the Good Wheel of the West was installed at Gwynns Falls, West Baltimore, MD on June 3, 2021
The Installment of More Trash Wheels Is In Process!
More trash wheels will be installed in:
Panama City, Panama
Oakland/San Francisco California, USA
As of August 2021
Interceptor Original
The Interceptor is a better, nicer, and more effective version of Mr. Trash Wheel. This works a little differently than the original river cleaner. Read these steps to find out how:
The litter flows through curved barriers, one guiding trash to the other, and then into the mouth of the interceptor.
The trash then makes its way up the conveyor belt.
The litter comes of the conveyor belt, and comes onto a moving platform, also having a conveyor belt installed.
Once all the trash is on the platform, the platform moves over one of the four dumpsters. After this, the conveyor belt on the platform feeds the trash into one of the dumpsters.
When all four dumpsters are full, the Interceptor sends a text message to the Ocean Cleanup employees, and they take the trash to land and recycle what they can.
The Ocean Cleanup hands the project over to the local government.
System 001
In 2018, The Ocean Cleanup deployed its first ocean system, system 001. Basically, the border funnels the trash to the end, and the litter is retrieved so that it can be recycled. However, The Ocean Cleanup realized that this system would no be efficient enough to clean up the Great Pacific Garbage Patch (their goal).
System 002
Therefore, Ocean Cleanup created their next ocean system, system 002. System 002 included 2 boats, not one, creating a larger mouth. A retention zone was also added. This can help with retrieval because the crew can easily detach the zone.
Interactive Map
This map shows the areas that are lucky enough to have one of The Ocean Cleanup's various machines.
System 03
System 03, The Ocean Cleanup believes, will be the final design for the release of a fleet of ships. Notice how there is one less zero than systems 001 and 002? That's because The Ocean Cleanup thinks that to totally clean the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, they will need, not hundreds of system 001s and 002s, but less than 30 system 03s. Also, the opening of the mouth on system 03 is 1.8 kilometers (1 mile), instead of the half kilometer of a system 002 . This can help get more plastic extracted from the ocean.
Interceptor Barrier and Tender
The first Interceptor Barriers were installed in Kingston Harbor, Jamaica. They funnel the trash so that it ends up in a big pile on the beach. This is when the Interceptor Tender comes in. The Interceptor Tender uses its conveyor belt to get the trash onto the boat, and then it is brought to the local waste management facility.
Interceptor Trashfence
The Interceptor Trashfence was designed for areas subject to flash floods. The Trashfence blocks litter from coming through in highly polluted areas.
