DESIGN ANALYSIS AND FABRICATION OF FLOATING WATER

SURFACE CLEANER

Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of

Bachelor of Engineering

By

AKSHAY E. SATPUTE
JIDNYESH G. PATIL
SHASHANK K. MHARSE
SACHIN N. PARDHI

Guided by

Prof. Sanjay N. Lahoti

Department of Mechanical Engineering

Datta Meghe College of Engineering
Plot No.98, Sector 3, Airoli, Navi Mumbai, Maharastra-400708 Affiliated to University
of Mumbai
2020-2021
 Datta Meghe College of Engineering
Department of Mechanical Engineering
Plot No.98, Sector 3, Airoli, Navi Mumbai, Maharastra-400708 Affiliated to University
of Mumbai

Certificate

This is to certify that the project entitled Design, Analysis and Fabrication of Floating Surface
Cleaner is a bonafide work of Akshay E. Satpute, Jidnyesh G. Patil, Shaahank K. Mharse, Sachin
N. Pardhi, submitted to the University of Mumbai in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the
award of the degree of Undergraduate degree Bachelor of Engineering in the subject Mechanical
Engineering for the year 2020-2021.

(Prof. Sanjay N. Lahoti)

Project Guide

(Prof. Usha Pawar) (Prof. (Dr) S.D. Sawarkar)

Head of the Department Principal

i
 Datta Meghe College of Engineering
Department of Mechanical Engineering
Plot No.98, Sector 3,Airoli, Navi Mumbai,Maharastra-400708
Affiliated to University of Mumbai 2020-2021

Project Report Approval for B. E.

This project report entitled Design, Analysis and Fabrication of Floating Surface
Cleaner by Akshay E. Satpute, Jidnyesh G. Patil, Shaahank K. Mharse, Sachin N.
Pardhi, is approved for the award of the Undergraduate degree of Bachelor of
Engineering in the subject of Mechanical Engineering for the year 2020-2021.

Examiners

1.

2.

Date:

Place:

ii
 Declaration

I declare that this written submission represents my ideas in my own words and where others' ideas or
words have been included, I have adequately cited and referenced the original sources. I also declare that
I have adhered to all principles of academic honesty and integrity and have not misrepresented or
fabricated or falsified any idea/data/fact/source in my submission. I understand that any violation of the
above will be cause for disciplinary action by the Institute and can also evoke penal action from the
sources which have thus not been properly cited or from whom proper permission has not been taken
when needed.

( Akshay E. Satpute)

(Jidnyesh G. Patil)

(Shashank K. Mharse)

(Sachin N. Pardhi)

Date

iii
 Acknowledgment

We sincerely express our deep sense of gratitude to our guide,

Prof. Sanjay N. Lahoti Department of Mechanical Engineering for his valuable
guidance and encouragement during the course of this work. We wish our sincere thanks to
Prof. Usha Pawar, Head of Mechanical Engineering Department for his valuable guidance.
We are also thankful to Prof. (Dr.) S. D. Sawarkar, principal and other staff member of
Mechanical Engineering Department who are involved in making this part of the project
successful.
Last but not least, we acknowledge our friends and family for their contribution,
continuous support and encouragement in the completion of the project.

Akshay E. Satpute
Jidnyesh G. Patil
Shashank Mharse
Sachin N. Pardhi

Date: / 05 / 2020

Place: Airoli

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 Table of Contents

List of Figures .............................................................................................................................. 7

List of Tables............................................................................................................................... 8

Abstract… .................................................................................................................................... 9

Chapter 1 Introduction ............................................................................................................... 10

1.1Overview of Marine Debris .................................................................................. 11

1.2Problem Statement…............................................................................................ 12

1.3Objective .............................................................................................................. 14

1.4Work Structure… ................................................................................................ 14

1.5 Scope ................................................................................................................. 16

Chapter 2 Literature Survey....................................................................................................... 21

2.1 Overview of Plastic Waste Material…………………………………………….22

2.2 Sources of Plastic Waste…………………………………………………………23

2.3 Impact of Plastic on Ocean’s ecosystem…………………………………………29

Chapter 3 Research Methodology.............................................................................................. 27

3.1Solution of marine waste….................................................................................. 28

3.2 Remedation of plastic waste… ............................................................................ 30

3.3 Prevention of marine pollution............................................................................ 30

Chapter 4 Overview of Experimental Setup............................................................................... 35

4.1Construction…...................................................................................................... 36

4.1.1 Stand… ........................................................................................... 36

4.1.2 Plate…............................................................................................. 37

4.1.3 Bucket ............................................................................................. 38

4.1.4 Clamp… .......................................................................................... 39

4.1.5 Catch Bag......................................................................................... 40

4.1.6 Pump……………….…………………………………………….....41

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 4.2 Working… ........................................................................................................... 40

Chapter 5 Result and Discussion… ............................................................................................. 48

5.1 calculation of rate of flow .................................................................................. 49

5.2 calculation of forces…………………………………………………………....35

5.3 results and analysis………………………… ………………………………..69.

Chapter 6 Conclusion and Future Scope .................................................................................... 50

6.1Conclusion… ...................................................................................................... 51

6.2 Future Scope ...................................................................................................... 51

Chapter 7 References ................................................................................................................ 52

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 List of Figures

Fig 1: Common plastic types and their families .......................................................................... 17

Fig 2: Growth of world plastic production ................................................................................... 18

Fig 3: Distribution of global plastic production........................................................................... 18

Fig 4: Demand of plastic by segment and polymer ...................................................................... 19

Fig 5: Oceans with the highest concentration of plastic .............................................................. 24

Fig 6: A model of transportation and accumulation of plastic object on the surface .................. 26

Fig 7: Example of how and where plastic can be ingested by animal ......................................... 27

Fig 8: Changes of tensile properties of plastic’s sample exposed to sunlight in the air and the air
in seawater near beach location……………………………………………………………….....31

Fig 9: The ocean conservancy international clean-up map 2014 ................................................. 34

Fig 10: Top 10 worldwide litter found during beach clean-up .................................................... 34

Fig 11: Historical growth of plastic production and public awareness about the threats ............ 35

Fig 12: Bans on plastic bags around the world by year 2016 ...................................................... 37

Fig 13: Plastic energy recovery and recycling rate in EU countries ............................................ 42

Fig 14: CAD 3D model of project ............................................................................................... 45

Fig 15: Drafting of project model ................................................................................................ 47

Fig 16: Part drawing of project model .......................................................................................... 48

Fig 17: Exploded view of project model ...................................................................................... 49

Fig 18: Meshed model .................................................................................................................. 57

Fig 19: Working of model ............................................................................................................ 58

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 List of Tables

Sr. No. Name Of Table Page No.

1 Countries contributing the most to marine debris accumulation, 22
reproducted from (jambeck at 2015)
2 Environmental factors affecting degradation in marine environment 30

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 Abstract

The water bodies across the world are facing the existential crises. The plastic solid waste
from a major inhabit or of natural flow of water. The human settlements are regularly dumping off the
garbage and refuse to the water bodies. This is a major environmental hazard and causes a degradation of
water bodies and affects the overall food chain. Out of the garbage plastic occupies a major chunk of solid
waste dumped with by 2020. The plastic staying at ocean break down into smaller granule which circulate
all over the water bodies goes into the gills of fishes which leads to genetic disorder and leading to death
and also comes to water supply connection which comes directly to our kitchen affecting all of us. The
granule of plastic causes cancer if it goes to fetus of pregnant women it can cause abnormality of child and
more
Due to the increasing rate of water pollution there is an increasing need for its awareness and
cleanness. Considering this issue our project focus on cleaning of the water bodies on shore, our project is
a modification of the sea-bin project according to our Indian society and needs. The bin situated at the
water surface and pumped the water at the surface then to water again. The water get sucked into the bin
and bringing all the floating debris into bin. Water pumped through the bottom of the bin living debris
inside which get raped in jute filter. Due to the strategic positioning, the wind and the currents bring the
debris directly to the bin.

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 CHAPTER

INTRODUCTION

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1.1 Overview of Marine Debris:

Marine debris is often described as one of the most pervasive marine pollution problems
because it is found from the most remote beach locations to the most visited beaches
throughout the world. Even though it has been recognized as a marine pollution problem
for many years, it has been less recognized as a solid waste problem. Despite extensive
beach cleanup efforts by volunteers and municipalities, the problem has persisted as
population and solid waste production continue to grow. The coasts are popular places to
live both in the United States and internationally. The United States coastline population
grows at a faster rate than the national average and is predicted to reach 165 million

people by 2015 (CMC, 2000a). Since humans cause marine

debris, an increase in
population will mean more stress to coastlines. A common perception is that the majority
of marine debris originates from ships and offshore activities in the ocean. In actuality,
only about 8% of the debris comes from ocean and inland waterway sources; the majority
of debris comes from mismanaged solid waste on land (e.g. litter) (CMC, 2000b). A
recent focus of marine debris research is to identify and target sources so that solutions to
the problem can be developed through policy and education.

Marine debris is not only aesthetically unpleasing as litter on beaches and shorelines, it
may also cause harm to human health and the environment. The most widely known
damage from marine debris is increased mortality of wildlife from entanglement or
ingestion. At least 267 marine species have been affected by both entanglement and
ingestion of marine debris including six of the seven species of sea turtles in the world,
44% of seabirds and 43% of marine mammals (MMC 1990; Farris and Hart 1995; Laist,
1996). The health and safety of beachgoers may also be affected by debris containing
sharp glass, metal, or plastic.
A more recently discovered problem with marine debris, particularly in plastic resins and
pellets, is the transport of toxic chemicals in the marine environment. PCBs
(Polychlorinated Biphenyls), DDE (Dichlorodiphenyldichloroethylene) and nonylphenols
were detected in polypropylene pellets off the coast of Japan (Mato et al., 2001).
Although most plastic manufacturers have a zero discharge policy, and are not permitted
to discharge pellets, they are still found in the environment (Gregory, 1999). Pellets can
be accidentally released during manufacturing and transport and then,

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 along with other litter, enter the oceans through storm drains, surface water runoff, streams,
and river
waters. Since compounds such as PCBs bioaccumulate, the transport of these toxic
chemicals in the marine environment is a pathway that can affect wildlife and human
health.
Marine debris is more than a nuisance. Marine debris can foul boat propellers, clog water
intakes or block pumping systems. Lost fishing equipment (e.g. nets and traps) can
“ghost fish,” or float in the ocean and continue to catch fish and kill wildlife. This can
have an impact on the fishing and shellfish industry (Carr and Harris, 1996). Tourism
can also be affected by marine debris and other litter. In the 1980’s, when large amounts
of waste were found on coastlines (e.g. medical waste in New York), many communities
lost millions of dollars from a drop-off in tourism, and increased beach cleanup
maintenance (NRC, 1995). The success of beach tourism is an essential economic
component to many communities, states and countries. Florida’s profit from tourism, in
particular the booming eco-tourism market, is a primary source of income for the state.
Beach visitors to Florida alone contributed 15.4 million dollars to the state in 1997 (Eco-
tourism/Heritage Tourism Committee,1997). A 1998 Florida Litter Study reported that
among the general population and registered boaters in Florida, litter on the beach or in
the water was identified as the third most important problem (behind water pollution
from agriculture and industry) affecting Florida’s marine resources(FCSHWM, 1998)

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 1.2 PROBLEM STATEMENT

Pollution of our oceans and waterways is a major issue in today's society.

Humanity tends to forget that the earth is 71% water. There are currently millions of tons
of debris already in our oceans, and plastic is the most common form of debris there is.
According to a 2010 study, an estimated eight million metric tons of plastic waste is
dumped into our oceans per year. Plastic does not break down like most natural
substances, so there is no way for our oceans to get rid of it naturally. The marine life
can not distinguish the difference between plastics and food, so the debris inevitably
gets eaten, which leads to death or injury because of the animal’s inability to digest the
plastics. Furthermore, many animals get trapped in the plastics, which leads to a slow,
painful death for these innocent creatures.
A large portion of the pollution that flows into our waterways starts at inland ports
and harbors. It is here where pollution enters through both commercial and recreational
means. From the pollution that comes from everyday use of aquatic vehicles, to the
people using the water as a source of entertainment, leftover garbage quickly makes it
way out to sea. It is here that the pollution becomes introduced to the wildlife and
causes many different problems. It is obvious that this trash does not belong here, but
what is not obvious how to produce a cheap, robust solution for what has become a
worldwide problem. Ultimately, the best solution would involve a reduction of littering
and the introduction of aquatic vehicles that do not use oil; however, one must realize
that one such solution is not very practical. With this, the real problem becomes how do
we capture the debris that is introduced to the water and take care of it before it
becomes a worse problem?
Essentially, there needs to be some way that allows us to clean up our ocean
and rid it of pollution by capturing any pollutants that try to make it into the system.
Cleaning the ocean sometimes seems like an impossible task due to the sheer massive
lengths of our waters worldwide. A cultural epiphany can occur, however, if society
makes an attempt to dispose of waste properly before it reaches the open ocean.

i. Water logging - it leads to depletion of the soil

quality and due to the stagnant water there is an
increase in insects and foul smell.
ii. Formation of algae – the floating seaweeds are a
great problem for marine life and due to them the
evaporation rate decreases.
iii. Effects on climate – due to formation of algae it
Reduces the evaporation rate and cause decrease in
Rainfall and other climatic changes.

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 iv. Effects on marine life – Due to the contamination
of water, the marine life is harmed increasing

1.3 OBJECTIVES -
 Further development of the Pilot Program and educational
Programs.
 New models of Seabins with the aim of “getting off the dock”
 To be a key player in a circular plastics economy.
 Dynamic collaborations with like minded businesses who are
willing to use our captured plastics for up cycling.
 To not have our captured plastics from the Seabins going to
landfill or being incinerated.
 Educational and technical collaborations with universities,
scientists and schools worldwide.
 To be in a financial position where we can help other groups,
businesses or not for profit organizations in less fortunate
situations.
 To not have a need for Seabins.
 To be good people.

1.4 Work structure –

This work is a literature study of several scientific articles, books and open use
publications. The search for information was centered on topics of marine plastics pollution
with emphasis on articles that would provide insight on the main research questions.
The first part and second part try to answer the questions about current volumes and
sources of plastics waste generation. The third part looks for information about effects
of species living in environment contaminated by plastics. The final part of literature
review studies various ways of preventing and fighting marine pollution. Websites of
clean-up organizations, start-up activities and news were visited to provide more recent
information about progress in this area.
The collected information from literature review is condensed to summaries of
the topics, including tables, to provide condensed overview of the findings about the re-
searched questions. Suggestions are given bout where we are still lacking understanding
and in which areas we have advanced a lot.

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1.5 FUTURESCOPE –
 Can install in lakes, ponds or any stationary water reservoir
 Smaller version can be install in swimming pools
 Dams Cleaning
 Ship Ports and Docs Cleaning

ADVANTAGE-
 Low Operating And Maintenance Cost
 Less Noise
 Self-operated and 100% Reliable
 Massive Public Awareness and Eco-friendly
 Can install in lakes, ponds or any stationary water reservoir
 Smaller version can be install in swimming pools

DISADVANTAGES
 Requires external power supply
 cannot be placed in running water bodies like river, oceans.
 Only cleans surface waste.

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 CHAPTER 2

LITERATURE SURVEY

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2.1 OVERVIEW OF PLASTIC PRODUCTION
Plastic Materials or Plastics are a broad family of synthetic and semi-synthetic polymeric materials,
typically derived from fossil fuels, that find applications in nearly all sectors of human life. They
have gained popularity for their cost-effectiveness, easy manufacturing and unique properties that
can be tailored to meet any product’s requirements. For example, a designer can control melting
point, color, chemical resistance, tensile strength, durability and conductivity of the material by
choosing plastics type, additives, fillers and processing methods.
The plastics are usually divided into two categories: thermosets and thermoplastics. The
thermoplastics have reversible characteristics, meaning the final product can undergo cycles of
reheating, reshaping and cooling repeatedly. The thermosets undergo a chemical transformation
when heated, meaning they create a three-dimensional network that does not melt upon reheating.
Therefore, thermosets keep their initially attained shape until the end of a product’s life. The two
categories are presented in Figure 1.

Figure 1. Common plastics types and their families. (PlasticsEurope, 2018)

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As seen from Figure 2, the World’s plastics production was experiencing an exponential growth
starting from about 5 million tons per year (Mt/y) in 1950s and reaching an es- timated 350 Mt/y in
2016, which cumulatively accounts for about 7.8 billion tons of plastics produced over the course of
70 years (Geyer et al., 2017). Figure 3 shows that for the currently estimated 350 Mt/y plastics
production, about 50% is made in Asia, followed by Europe at 18.5% and NAFTA at 17.7%
(PlasticsEurope, 2018).

Figure 2. Growth of world's plastic production by sector type in MT between years

1950-2015. (Geyer et al., 2017)

Figure 3. Distribution of global plastics production. (PlasticsEurope, 2018)

As is seen from Figure 2 and Figure 4, single-use plastics such as packaging, films, and
disposable consumer items are the most produced category of plastics. It was observed

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 that single-use disposable plastics amount to about 40% of production in Europe, 34 %
in NAFTA and 33% in China. The single-use plastics generally have very short product
lifespan. For instance, Geyer et al. (2017) assumed that packaging materials go to waste
in less than a year from production time and consumer products including textiles go to
waste in less than 5 years.

Plastics with short lifecycles, such as packaging, gained their popularity for low cost,
low weight, durability, health safety, and prolonged product shelf lives. On the other
hand, the combination of high production volume, low value, and short life span create
a threat of mismanaging plastics waste and leakage into the environment. Unfortunately,
this is the case, and single-use plastics were found to constitute 62% of garbage found in
the waste streams in a study done by Consultic(2013).

Figure 4. Demand for plastics by segment and polymer type; Packaging adds up to
~40% of EU plastics production. (PlasticsEurope,
2018)

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2.2 Sources of plastic waste

First and foremost, plastic litter is a 100% result of anthropogenic activity. It does not occur
naturally in the environment, and it is not produced by other living organisms. Analysis of
human activities that are leading to waste generation is vital for the planning of responses to
littering on personal, local and international levels Stefatos et al. (1999) identified in their
study that plastic garbage was the most common pollutant found in marine debris. They
suggested that major sources of marine debris might be on land, and it could be transported
into the seas by winds, rivers, and streams. It was later estimated that land-based sources of
plastic debris contribute about 80% of the plastic input to the marine environment, and
ocean-based sources contribute the re- maining 20% (Derraik, 2002; Li et al., 2016).
However, the 80/20% proportion should be used with caution as it is linked to the most
common plastic litter found on the beaches during clean-up campaigns, while the actual
proportions vary depending on the remoteness of the sampling location, dominant human
activities in that area and method of classification of the collected items. (Jambeck et al.,
2015; Joan et al., 2016; Li et al., 2016)

2.2.1 Macro- andmicroplastics

The plastics waste in the environment is subdivided into two main groups of macroplastics
and microplastics. The macroplastics are all the plastics objects larger than approximately 5
mm in size. This category of plastics waste has been widely acknowledged already since the
1990s and subjected to numerous studies and publicity over the past 30 years. (Li et al.,
2016)

The term “microplastics” was coined for the first time in 2004, but there is still no universal
agreement about the full definition of the term among researchers. For example,
microplastics are sometimes subdivided into primary and tertiary microplastics. The primary
microplastics are produced specifically to be of microscopic dimensions, such as pellets,
plastics microbeads used in personal care, capsules etc. Some researchers may include
wearing of tires, textiles, road markings, and hull coatings into the category of primary
plastics. The tertiary microplastics are produced through fragmentation and degradation
processes under environmental factors. Tertiary plastics are therefore being constantly

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released into the marine environment under the action of sunlight, atmos- phere, water, and
mechanical abrasion. Additionally, a term of nano plastics was recent- ly proposed to define
plastics particles with dimensions between 1 nm and 1 μm. (Frias and Nash,2019)

2.2.2Ocean-based sources

One major contribution to pollution is through ocean-based activities. For example, Horsman
(1982) estimated that 639,000 plastic packaging containers were dumped from world’s fleet
into the waters each day; and sinking of the fishing fleet in 1975 accounts for about 150 000
tons of plastics fishing gear and packaging released into the oceans (Li et al., 2016).
Unfortunately, there is a considerable time gap in studies for ship- generated waste, which
makes it difficult to estimate global inputs of plastics from ocean-based activities. Joan et al.
(2016) claim that the latest global estimate for ship- generated waste, that would include
fishing fleet, commercial vessels, and passenger ships, was produced 43 years ago, or back
in1975.

Notably, MARPOL Annex V (The International Convention for the Prevention of Pol- lution
from Ships), which set up tight regulations on throwing garbage, including plas- tics items,
was ratified in year 1988. This resolution has changed the way how the ma- jority of
commercial fleet behaves, potentially making global statistics gathered prior to 1988
inaccurate for extrapolation into present days. (IMO, 1995)

One of the large sources of marine plastics comes from the fishing fleet and aquacul- tures.
This source of plastics waste is sometimes referred to as “abandoned, lost or oth- erwise
discarded fishing gear” (ALDFG). Good et al. (2010) estimated that the amount of fishing
gear lost to the environment has quadrupled over the past 30 years. About 640,000 t/year of
fishing gear ends up in the ocean adding up to about 10% of the yearly marine debris input,
and there is currently no systematic way for controlling fishery ves- sels. The discarded gear
from the fishing fleet mainly consists of nylon fishing lines, fishing nets, and plastic
packaging. Although at a much smaller scale as compared to fisheries, objects such as ropes,
caging and polystyrene buoys are released from aqua- culture activities such as mussel and
salmon farms. (Joan et al., 2016)

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 2.2.3 Land-based sources

In a model developed by Jambeck et al. (2015), approximately 8 million tons (MT) of

plastics reach the seas and oceans from populated areas within 50 km of the shoreline. In the
model, population size, industrialization, and quality of waste management sys- tems were
the main factors contributing to marine pollution. Table 1 based on data from Jambeck et al.
(2015) also shows that countries with high population near the shores and poor waste
management systems contribute the most to the accumulation of plastics ma- rine debris. The
same information from Jambeck et al. (2015) was visualized on top of the world map by
Joan et al. (2016) and can be seen in Figure6.

Population Mismanaged The share of global mis- Plastic marine

Rank Country
(million ppl) Plastic (MT/Y) managed plastic (%) debris (MT/Y)
1 China 262.9 8.82 27.7 1.32–3.53
2 Indonesia 187.2 3.22 10.1 0.48–1.29
3 Philippines 83.4 1.88 5.9 0.28–0.75
4 Vietnam 55.9 1.83 5.8 0.28–0.73

5 Sri Lanka 14.6 1.59 5.0 0.24–0.64

6 Thailand 26.0 1.03 3.2 0.15–0.41
7 Egypt 21.8 0.97 3.0 0.15–0.39
8 Malaysia 22.9 0.94 2.9 0.14–0.37
9 Nigeria 27.5 0.85 2.7 0.13–0.34
10 Bangladesh 70.9 0.79 2.5 0.12–0.31
South Afri-
11 ca 12.9 0.63 2.0 0.09–0.25

12 India 187.5 0.60 1.9 0.09–0.24

13 Algeria 16.6 0.52 1.6 0.08–0.21

14 Turkey 34.0 0.49 1.5 0.07–0.19
15 Pakistan 14.6 0.48 1.5 0.07–0.19
16 Brazil 74.7 0.47 1.5 0.07–0.19
17 Burma 19.0 0.46 1.4 0.07–0.18
18 Morocco 17.3 0.31 1.0 0.05–0.12
North Ko-
19 rea 17.3 0.30 1.0 0.05–0.12

20 USA 112.9 0.28 0.9 0.04–0.11

Table 1. Countries contributing the most to marine debris accumulation. Reproduced from (Jambeck
et al., 2015)

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2.3 Impact of plastics on ocean’s eco-system

2.3.1Accumulation of plastics in the ocean

As estimated in the model developed by Jambeck et al. (2015), between 4.8 and 12.7 MT of
plastics garbage reached oceans in 2010 from within 50 km of coastline of the 192 countries
considered. According to the same model, depending on how many improvements are made
to the waste management in coming years, a total input of plastic waste from 2010 till 2025
into the oceans will be between 100 and 250MT.

There is no universal agreement on how long exactly plastics require to fully decompose, as
its mass production started less than 70 years ago and there is no empirical evidence to
support any claims. Still, it is a common assumption that all of the plastics produced, except
for a share that was incinerated, is still in use or present in the environment as whole pieces
or fragments. Plastic fragments, however small they might be, are still considered as plastics
particles and have negative effects on the marine environment. (Thompson et al., 2009)

Fragmentation, a process of polymer object breaking down into smaller polymer frag-
ments, happens under influence of UV radiation, physical abrasion and, to a lesser ex- tent,
from the chemical interaction of plastics with water and atmosphere (Andrady et al., 1993).
For example, it is easy to find plastic items that are severely fragmented from continuous
friction against sand and exposure to sunlight on the shorelines. Decomposition, on the other
hand, happens when the molecular chain is broken–for instance during incineration.
Therefore, fragmentation increases the number of smaller plastics particles floating in the
ocean but does not necessarily lead to full decomposition into natural chemical components
such as methane, carbon dioxide or other non-synthetic molecules. (Hopewell et al., 2009)

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 A large share of the produced plastics has a lower density than seawater (~1.025 𝑔/
𝑐𝑚3),whichmeanstheyfloatandcaneasilybetransportedwithwindsandseacurrents around the
ocean. The large scale geographical distribution of plastics waste strongly depends on the
entry locations, type of plastics and prevailing waves, winds and cur- rents (Edyvane et
al.,2004).

After reaching the marine environment, plastics can sink to the bottom, get trapped at the
entry point or continue drifting around the ocean carried by winds and currents. The surface
currents in the ocean are typically driven by winds, hence they resemble long- term wind
patterns. Some currents, also referred to as gyres, are closed-loop and circu- lar, meaning
that once the object reaches the gyre, it is trapped in there for a while. As plastics can drift
in waters for decades, many reach the gyres resulting in areas of high waste concentrations
around the ocean. There are five large gyres in the ocean – North Atlantic, South Atlantic,
North Pacific, South Pacific, and Indian Ocean gyres – with estimated about 5 trillion
plastic pieces being afloat in the entire ocean according to Eriksen et al. (2014), (see Figure
9).

Figure 5. Oceans with the highest concentration of plastic shown in dark red subdivided into
four size groups; Image by Eriksen et al. (2014)

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 Although the amount of plastics floating on the sea surface is high, researchers suggest even
larger amounts of plastics items trapped in the water columns or on the seabed. For
example, a survey of Great Pacific gyre showed that majority of collected surface plastics
by weight was macroplastics (~85%) and a smaller than expected proportion of
microplastics (Eriksen et al., 2014). Another study by Zettler et al. (2013) shows that the
majority of plastics particles collected from waters were from positively buoyant and very
common packaging materials – PP and PE. Although there is no accurate way of measuring
the total amount of debris in the waters, an estimate drawn by Joan et al. (2016), which was
based on an extensive literature survey, shows that plastics floating on the surface account
only for 1% of plastics in the oceans.

There are several proposed explanations for “missing” plastics. Some plastics are nega-
tively buoyant, meaning once discarded, they will sink. Large amounts of negatively
buoyant plastics can enter waters, especially in populated areas, from the coasts, recrea-
tional activities, and ships. The negatively buoyant plastics that reach coastal waters are
deposited on the sediment and moved further into the seas by tidal waves and currents.
Some closed volume plastics like bottles can remain buoyant and drift on the surface until
their cavity is filled with water, leading to eventual sinking to the seafloor. The plastics lost
by fishing fleet, for example negatively buoyant Nylon nets, also sink to the seafloor or get
trapped in the water column. Studies of seabed done by Pham et al. (2014) show
macroplastics debris almost everywhere in the oceans with concentrations of ~100-300
𝑝𝑐𝑠/𝑘𝑚 2in shelf areas,~200-600 𝑝𝑐𝑠/𝑘𝑚2on continental slopes and ridges,~400-
700𝑝𝑐𝑠/𝑘𝑚2onsubmarinemoundsandbanks,and600-1200𝑝𝑐𝑠/𝑘𝑚2in submarine canyons.

Study of deep-sea waters (1000-3500 m deep) sediments in different locations around the
world done by Woodall et al. (2014) revealed high concentrations of microplastics,
especially of acrylic and polyester microfibers. The concentration of microfibers in
sediments, on average 4000 𝑝𝑐𝑠/𝑚2, were about four orders of magnitude larger than those
documented in surface waters in plastics gyres. A conservative extrapolation of the above
resulted in 4 billions of fibers per km2. (Zalasiewicz et al., 2016)

Acrylic and polyester are denser than seawater, so they are most likely behaving like
feathers in the air – slowly drifting with currents through water columns until they reach

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 the sediment. This means they can easily be transported around the ocean and slowly
accumulate at the sea bottom. In addition to dense polymers, positively buoyant plastics
were observed in the sediments. It is proposed that microplastics gain density through
biological processes. For instance, those could be consumed by organisms and sink to the
seabed with feces. In another process, plastics particles as they get smaller get high- er and
higher surface to volume ratio, which coupled with contamination by living or- ganisms
causes density change of the fragments and eventual sinking to the seafloor. Figure 6 shows
possible pathways for transportation and accumulation of plastics on the seabed. (Joan et al.,
2016; Zalasiewicz et al., 2016)

Figure 6. A model of transportation and accumulation of plastics objects on the surface,

water column and in sediments (Zalasiewicz et al., 2016)

2.3.2 Ingestion by species

Accumulation of plastics in the oceans has a negative impact on marine biota. All types of
organisms feeding in waters: seabirds, all kinds of fish and marine mammals, have been
observed to ingest plastic objects. The ingested plastic object provides an organism with no
energy but provides a feeling of fullness. Plastics can get trapped in the diges- tive system
for a long time, decreasing feeding stimuli, causing reproduction failures and, potentially,
death of the organism. (Derraik, 2002)

Seabirds are well documented to ingest plastics during feeding and are potentially the most
vulnerable species. Hard, undigested materials, such as plastics, usually stays in

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the tract, eventually leading to gastrointestinal blockage, starvation, and decrease in ac- tivity
levels. It is a somewhat less critical case situation for fish and filter-feeding organ- isms, which
can in most cases regurgitate the ingested plastics. (Li et al., 2016)

Size, color, and shape of plastic particles also matter. Animals target specific shapes and
colors, mistaking it for potential prey. For example, turtles and various species of fish were
documented to ingest primarily white and transparent plastics particles. For sea- birds, there
is a high variety of feeding techniques but many, especially juvenile birds, tend to mistake
plastic pellets and lids for pray.

Larger fishes and predators are also ingesting large amounts of plastics. When they chase
pray, they might ingest unwanted plastics debris during feeding. On top of that, they
consume plastics that were already consumed by their prey. In this way, plastics can travel
through the food chain and potentially end up on the human’s plate. Figure 7 shows some
pathways for how plastics can end up in the food-web. (Joan et al.,2016)

Figure 7. Examples of how and where plastics can be ingested by animals. (Joan et al., 2016)

2.3.2 Entanglement

The fishing gear discussed in Section 2.2.2 does not only accumulate as marine debris,
but it also poses a big threat to the marine biota. Lost or discarded fishing nets take a
long time to disintegrate in the marine environment and cause accidental entanglement
of species or “ghost fishing”. In a literature study of 340 publications by Gall and
Thompson (2015), plastics accounted for 92% of the encounters between marine
species

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 and debris. Furthermore, the entanglement was a more common situation (55% occur- rence
or over 30 000 cases) than ingestion of plastics (34% occurrence). The entangle- ment cases
were either more frequently reported or more serious as the harm caused to animals is
direct, visible and often fatal. (Gall and Thompson, 2015)

Entanglement can potentially cause death through drowning, starvation, strangling, infection
through cuts or through increased chances of being caught by other animals. For example,
sea mammals such as seals and sea lions, especially young, are playful and curious. They
are attracted to floating debris and get entangled as they start playing with. The net slips
easily on the neck and the direction of hair growth prevents it from slipping off. It was noted
by Derraik (2002) that for northern fur seals a small weight increase due to entanglement
had caused a four-fold increase in food consumption to sustain daily activity levels.
(Derraik,2002)

Entanglement happens in different ways for other species. The two other most common- ly
entangled groups according to Gall and Thompson (2015) are sea turtles and sea birds. The
sea turtles, for instance, are highly susceptible to “ghost fishing” because they tend to hide
under floating objects for shelter or for hunting purposes. The sea birds can easily get
caught in the netting while plunging into the water. (Li et al.,2016)

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 CHAPTER 3

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

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3.1 MITIGATION OF MARINE POLLUTION

This section introduces possible pathways for reducing amount of waste that is entering the has
reached the ocean or can potentially do so in the future. The section starts with brief introduction
as to why ocean cannot clean itself of plastics effectively and moves on to topics of manual clean
ups and preventive measures.

3.2 Remediation of plastic waste

3.2.1Naturalremediation

As brought up in previous sections, degradation of plastics in marine environment is

possible, but the process is extremely slow. The fragmentation rate of plastics objects is
very much dependent on the surrounding environment (see Table 2).

Table 2. Environmental factors affecting degradation in marine environment. (Bergmann et al., 2015)

Environmental factors Water surface Sediment Beach

Sunlight Yes No Yes
Temperature Medium Low High
Oxygen level High/Medium Low High
Biofouling Yes Yes No
Abrasion Low No High

Photo-oxidation is among the most effective degradation mechanisms. It happens under

influence of UV radiation that initiates free radical reaction in presence of oxygen. As a
result of the reaction the oxygen incorporates into the molecule resulting in breakdown of
polymer chains and decrease of the molecular weight. The wavelength has an effect on
degradation rate – the lower it is, the more energy it has and, therefore, the more ef- ficient
it is in initiating a reaction.

It was mentioned by Bergmann et al. (2015) that considerable loss in mechanical strength
happens already at low oxidation levels. This finding is important as weakened plastics
leave entangled animals with a higher chance of surviving. As shown in Table

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 3, sunlight availability differs between beach, sea surface and seabed and the same is true
for the surrounding temperature. Therefore, the plastic will degrade faster on a hot, sunny
beach than on the ocean bottom, where sunlight never reaches.

Figure 8. Change of tensile properties of plastic's samples exposed to sunlight in the air and
in seawater near beach location. (Bergmann et al., 2015)

Figure 8, for example, shows a big difference in loss of tensile properties of plastics sample
exposed to direct sunlight in air and one floating on water surface near the beach. In
addition to environmental and location factors, color of plastic plays im- portant role in
degradation under UV exposure. Darker colored plastics consume more energy from
sunlight and thus they degradefaster.

Mechanical degradation of plastics happens as a result of physical interaction of plastics

object with surrounding environment. As seen from 2, the influence of mechani- cal
degradation is mostly limited to surface waters and especially beach areas, where some
movement and friction is possible. There winds and waves keep repeatedly push- ing the
plastics against the sand grains and, coupled with sunlight and heat accelerate fragmentation
process. For the plastics items suspended in waters or laying on the sedi- ment, on the other
hand, there is not enough mechanical action to tear down or fatigue the polymer chains.

Biodegradation of plastics is a process of degradation under the influence of living or-

ganisms such as microbes, bacteria and fungi. In the first step of biodegradation process
microorganisms adhere to the plastic surface. The process of microorganisms covering

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 the plastics surface is called biofouling and the surface containing microorganisms is called
biofilm. Biofilm changes plastics density and in some cases causes it to sink to the sea floor.
This effect is especially pronounced for plastics with low volume and high surfacearea.

Although biofilm protects the plastic from UV radiation and therefore slows down the speed
of degradation, it helps with the fragmentation process overtime. Some species of bacteria
and fungi use carbon chains as a source of energy. They produce enzymes that are capable
of degrading large polymer chains. Each type of plastic requires different types of
microorganisms, and sometimes pretreatment, to start the biodegradation pro- cess.

When plastics are sufficiently fragmented, some types of bacteria can finish the degra-
dation cycle by decomposing the polymer chains into simple compounds such as water and
carbon dioxide. Little is known about spread of suitable microorganisms in the ma- rine
environment but so far researchers are skeptical regarding amounts of plastics that is being
remediated in an uncontrolledenvironment.

3.2.2 Plastics recoverytechnologies

It was established that marine litter is a consequence of the mismanaged plastics,

or a downstream problem. The most efficient way to tackle a problem is to fight with the
cause and not the symptoms. As previously mentioned, majority of plastics in the oceans are
not floating on the surface, so the recovery potential for submerged plastics is very low due
to associated costs and technical limitations. Nevertheless, there are hotspots such as river
mouths, beaches, bays and ocean gyres, where plastics can be reached and recovered
relatively efficiently. Moreover, there is economic potential for recovery as recycled items
can be sold and marketed as eco-friendly. The beach clean- up efforts are covered in section
3.1.3 and some of the selected plastics recovery tech- nologies and teams behind the
technologies are described in Chapter 4. (Joan et al., 2016)

For example, in section 2.2.3 rivers are estimated to carry about 1 MT of plastics per year
into the ocean (Lebreton et al., 2017). Rivers are a perfect hot spot, where high plastics
concentrations are present, flowing in a known direction and rather easily ac-

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 cessible from land. Several companies are looking into solutions to suspend trash in the
upper layer of the river and direct its flow towards the traps, where it can be recovered in an
efficientmanner.

Other solutions look at collecting plastics in relatively calm areas such as ports or yacht
clubs. Although those projects are small scale, they have a huge recovery potential if
implemented globally. There also exist some large-scale project that aim at recovering
plastics from the gyres directly in the ocean. Such initiatives have potential for recover- ing
great amounts of floating materials that are already loose in the environment but in those are
also costly and are yet to prove their effectiveness.

3.2.3International beach clean-upactivities

Apart from nature and technologies, plastics are collected all over the world on
beaches by volunteers. One particularly big institution, Ocean Conservancy, has been
organizing in collaboration with volunteering teams beach clean-up activities every year
since 1986. By year 2016 around 11.5 million people have participated in the clean-up
activi- ties. In addition to clean up activities, volunteers document what type of litter was
found and its quantity. Ocean Conservancy also partners with other organizations to identify
most likely sources of found litter and to raise awareness campaigns that aim to alter
consumer behavior causing littering. (“Ocean Conservancy,”2017)

Figure 14 shows countries that participated in beach cleanup activities in year 2014.
Approximately 46 countries took part in the international clean-up. Different shades of blue
show the number of volunteers per 10 000 costal residents. As is seen, the most actively
participating volunteers were in countries from North and South America, es- pecially USA,
Canada, Peru and Chili. This is likely due to the fact that Ocean Conserv- ancy is originally
from the US and is more known in that part of the world. Also, some island groups were
particularly active in clean-up activities. Those islands are depend- ing on tourism sector,
which suffers from presence of litter on the beaches and in coastal waters. Keeping those
areas clean is vital for local economy, tourism levels and fisher- ies.

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 Figure 9. The Ocean Conservancy international clean-up map 2014

As already mentioned previously, volunteers document what type of litter they find. The
collected data contributes to the largest and oldest database about beach litter. In addi- tion,
Ocean Conservancy has developed a phone app, CleanSwell, that can be used by anyone
wishing to contribute to the cleaning efforts. People can download it and docu- ment any
litter they have removed whenever they want to and wherever they are.

Figure 10. Top 10 worldwide litter found during beach clean-up activities in million pieces per
category

According to collected statistics, the majority of the beach litter found globally is con-
sumer products, especially single use plastics and packaging. The most common types of
litter come from recreational activities, such as smoking, drinking and eating out. A

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 List of 10 most commonly found litter is shown in Figure 15. Altogether, in year 2015 over
13.8 Million items were collected, which is over 8000 tons of garbage. According to Ocean
Conservancy, a total of 95 254 tons of trash was collected within the past 30 years of
activity. (“Ocean Conservancy,” 2017)

3.3Prevention of marine pollution

3.3.1Legislation

The problem of plastics pollution has not always been given the same amount of
attention as nowadays. The mass production has started back in 1950s, and the prevailing
opinion was that plastics will make life better and easier for everybody. The production
rates took off rapidly reaching about 50 Mt/year by 1980s. It was during those years that
first publications started to appear reporting impact of plastic debris on marine life. As is
seen from Figure 16, legislation for plastics started to appear only in early 1990s. In this
section, some of the most significant regulations and agreements related to produc- tion, use
and disposal of plastics are introduced. (Zalasiewicz et al.,2016)

Figure 11. Historical growth of plastics production and of public awareness about
the threats. (Zalasiewicz et al., 2016)

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 MARPOL 73/78 convention was already briefly mentioned in Section 2.2.2. It deals with
pollution from ships by sewage and garbage, covering about 98% of world fleet by tonnage.
In essence, MARPOL imposes a complete ban on disposal of any garbage into sea. Any
ship above 400 GT (gross tonnes) or carrying over 15 people on board must provide a
Garbage Record Book. There was a problem, however, that even if ships comply with
MARPOL regulations, some ports might not have infrastructure to handle received garbage.
Therefore, MARPOL also aims at improving port reception facilities and in general
promotes environmental consciousness in the shipping industry. (IMO, 1995)

The London Convention (1975) or London Protocol (2006) aim to effectively control all
sources of marine pollution including implementation of practical steps to minimize
dumping of waste at sea. For example, the convention issued a gray- and blacklists for waste
materials at sea. The gray list allows dumping of certain items if permission from authorities
were given and all criteria were met. The black list on the other hand strictly prohibits any
dumping of the listed materials. Recently, a discussion has started, where sewage and
dredged materials might be added to blacklist as they are likely to contain some amounts of
microplastics. (Joan et al., 2016)

SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals) is a roadmap to year 2030 planned by United

Nations. The goal is to synchronize global, national and local initiatives related to sus-
tainable development. The initiative addresses multiple pollution problems. Amongst them
are waste management system, wastewater treatment, reduction of waste genera- tion and
prevention of marine pollution.

UNCLOS (United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea) regulates activities car- ried
out in oceans and seas including protection of marine environment from pollution. It
regulates land based and sea-based pollution as well as pollution through atmosphere and
seabed activities. For example, they see lost or discarded fishing gear as a serious threat to
environment and propose methods for reducing its impacts on marine life and promote
retrieval activities.

Regional seas conventions are regulations and action plans for countries sharing same
waters. Practically every waterbody has some sort of regional regulation for mindful use of
resource and prevention of pollution from sea and land. Also, there exist country and

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 union specific policies. For example, European Union effectively regulates waste
management, environmental protection and packaging production on its territory and has
some influence on neighboring countries. One of the latest decisions is to ban single use
plastics such as cotton buds, single use tableware, balloon sticks, stirrers and straws. In
addition, the plan is to increase recycling of bottles to 90% and to put share of plas- tics
collection costs on manufacturers, in particular manufacturers of common marine plastic
waste such as of fishing gear and cigarettes. (Rachel Cooper, 2018)

Xanthos and Walker (2017) attempted to measure effects of market-based strategies such as
imposing a ban, tax or levy on plastic products. This study in particular focuses on plastic
bags and microbeads across the globe.

First of all, they noticed that problem of plastic bags was for the first time addressed
globally in 1991 but number of interventions did not start rising till 2000s. There were no
interventions for microbeads until year 2013. Another finding was that interventions are not
synchronized across the globe and at times not even between adjacent municipalities. A
major question arose about effectiveness of the introduced policies in various countries.

Figure 12. Bans on plastic bags around the world by year 2016. Green: full ban; Yellow: a tax on some type
of bags; Purple: partial tax or ban. (Xanthos and Walker, 2017)

Xanthos and Walker (2017) came to conclusion that levies and bans on plastic bags are
effective. For example, a small levy on plastic bags in Ireland led to 90% decrease in plastic
bag use. A levy introduced in Wales had resulted in about 96% reduced plastic bag use
within 5 years. Similar situation was observed for England, where levy on bags

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 at major supermarkets resulted in about six billion fewer bags sold each year. In China bag
consumption fell by about 60-80 % (about 40 billion less bags per year) after they banned
bags thinner than 25 μm and put a fee on bags of other thicknesses. On the other hand, some
countries found it difficult to enforce the law. In China, plastic bags are still commonly used
by large amount of smaller shops and street vendors, which are hard to control. In South
Africa the levy was too low and did not affect consumption of plastic bags.

The data about effects of microbeads bans is very limited. It is estimated that about 8 trillion
pieces of microplastics enter the water streams due to cosmetics. Therefore, several
countries are in the process of addressing this issue in present time. For instance,
Netherlands and several other EU member states are requesting bans on microbeads within
EU and discussing with manufacturers about voluntary abstinence from use of microplastics
in their products. For example, the about 80% of Dutch cosmetic companies are free of
microbeads as a result of cooperation with government. Unfortunately, for countries where
microbead bans are in place, the effects of bans are not yet measurable. Mostly this is
because bans were introduced recently and there is a delay between passing a law and
implementing it. Also, most of the bans are implemented in phased approach to give time
for manufacturers and retailers to adapt to upcoming changes. Last but not least, there is
need for accurate methods for measuring effects of law enforcement, such as end op pipe
testing for microbeads or collection of plastic bag data from shops and manufacturers.

3.3.2 Public awareness

Public awareness is societies’ level of understanding of the existence of the

problem, its causes and consequences. The public awareness campaigns are there to
advertise the problem through various media channels, education, events and activities.
Nowadays there are numerous plastic pollution awareness campaigns around the world.
This section is intended to introduce some of them.

Plastic Pollution Coalition is a worldwide alliance whose mission is to reach “a world free
of plastic pollution and its toxic impacts on humans, animals, waterways and oceans, and
the environment”. For example, the Coalition takes part in a viral anti-

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 plastic straw movement. They work with eateries to abstain from offering plastic straws
with the drinks, encourage individuals to go “straw free” and spread the message fur- ther.
In the grand scheme of things, they participate in such activities to shift perception of
society on pollution caused by consumption and disposal of single-use plastics. (“Plastic
Pollution Coalition,” 2019)

Another good examples of organizations that spread awareness are 4Ocean and Ocean
Conservancy. 4Ocean engages local population and fleet in plastics recovery activities. By
now, over 2000 tons of plastics have been recovered by 4Ocean employees paid through
sale of their products. The main product, for example, is 4Ocean bracelet that is made from
recycled glass and plastics. A purchase of such $20 bracelet pays for removal of 1 pound
(0.45 kg) of marine litter. In addition to fighting marine litter one can help save coral reefs,
dolphins, manatees, shark, sea turtles, whales, sea birds and other species by purchasing
special edition bracelets. The other organization Ocean Conservancy organizes beach clean
up activities with volunteers around the world and is involved with multiple organizations in
organization of awareness campaigns and pollution statistics analysis. (“4Ocean,” 2019;
“Ocean Conservancy,” 2017)

Rising public awareness about pollution and the need for sustainable production and
consumption creates environmental values in consumer purchasing patterns. This forms a
demand for eco-friendly products with recycled content, which intern encourages businesses
and authorities to shift towards recycling and development of sustainable production. Below
are a few examples of companies working to meet sustainability demands. (“Let’s reduce
plastic in our Oceans,” 2018)

Fairy, a brand under UK company Procter & Gamble, launched 320 000 Ocean Plastic
bottles in UK in 2018 to raise awareness about recycling significance and ocean pollution.
The bottles were produced from 90% of post-consumer recycled plastics and 10% of ocean
plastics. Apart from this single campaign, Procter & Gamble brands use 8 000 metric tons
of plastic redirected from landfills per year.

Adidas in collaboration with Parley have created a few clothing and shoes collections using
recycled ocean plastic throughout the past 2 years. Their mission is “to prevent plastic
entering the ocean and transform it into high performance sportswear”. Since

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 2017 until now Adidas has launched trainers, football T-shorts, swimwear as well as yoga,
tennis, running and rugby collections made partially from ocean plastic.

Saltwater brewery is a small brewery from Florida, USA that has developed the first eco-
friendly beverage six pack rings. The material is 100% biodegradable and edible for any
species. When the ring is disposed of properly it takes only a few days to degrade
completely. Improperly disposed ring is degraded in less than 200 days. By implement- ing
this technology Saltwater brewery is trying to influence big beverage manufacturers and by
their own example and contribute to the sustainable environment.

3.2.3Waste handling strategies

Waste management are the activities required to address problem of waste

materials. At its core, waste management involves collection, transport, processing and
disposal of waste. In the modern day, there are several levels to the activities. The most
basic management is through collection and disposal to landfill. The next level is processing
of waste to yield energy, recover material, and reduce waste volume and pollution or toxin
re- lease hazards. The novel approach, called “the 4R” – reduce, reuse, recycle and recover
sees reduction of waste at source as a vital part of waste management strategies with
landfills as a less desirable approach. This section outlines various options of handling
waste – from control at source, through life-cycle and till end of life. (Hopewell et al., 2009)

Landfills

Landfills are the most common and the oldest waste handling methods around the
world. The problem with landfills is that it rapidly accumulates a volume of waste until no
more land is available and new landfill is needed. It works as a final destination in product’s
lifecycle and leaves limited possibilities for material recovery and reuse. Tak- ing longevity
of plastics in consideration, storing plastics in landfills only delays the problem for future
generations. For instance, Zalasiewicz et al. (2016) states that up to several tens of meters
containing plastic are uncovered at locations of old landfills that
startedworkingafter1950s.Plasticsarealreadyconsideredasageologicalmarkerthat

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 could be used in far future to indicate 20th-21st century land deposits. Considering ever
increasing amount of waste and lack of suitable lands in some countries, other methods of
waste handling should be prioritized.

In short term, a well-established landfill eliminates pollution of the environment by sol- id

waste. In the long term, however, there is a risk of contamination of soil and ground- water
by toxic elements released through degradation of plastics and other materials. A poorly
managed landfill can also result in waste blown by winds or carried by waters into the
environment. Therefore, landfills score the lowest in waste management options but are still
far better than direct littering.

Incineration and energy recovery

A less popular alternative to landfills is incineration. This method’s advantage is

that polymer chains degrade completely, reducing volume of waste and demand on the land-
fills with possibility to extract some energy. On the other hand, burning of plastics is
dangerous for the environment due to release of hazardous substances into the atmos- phere.
This risk stops incineration from becoming more popular than landfills. The posi- tive side
of incineration is possibility of energy recovery for electricity, heating or direct use as fuel
in blast furnaces. Incineration coupled with energy recovery saves natural resources that
would otherwise be used to produce required heat or electricity.

Re-use of plastics items

Re-use of items, especially single use plastic items, can considerably extend
product’s lifespan and reduce both waste production and generation. The possibilities to do
so at large scale are quite limited due to logistics issues. The product-filling factories are far
from collection points and high variety of container designs and branding make it infea-
sible for collection and re-use. Some local businesses, however, have take-back and re-
filling schemes. For some more expensive product categories such as vehicle and elec-
tronic parts, re-use is a feasible scheme. Re-use is also popular for plastics used for
transportation of goods such as pallets and bags. Finally, on the consumer level, some of the
packaging, especially plastic bags, water bottles and food containers can be used several
times and is a matter of habit rather than logistics.

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 Downgauging

Downgauging is a process of minimizing amount of material use per product, for

in- stance in packaging. Minimization of material use results in minimization of waste
generation. Although economically it is natural process for manufacturers since it leads to
lower production costs, downgauging can significantly impact the way final product looks
and sells. For example, a container from solid plastics can be replaced by sealed vacuum
film, which is just as effective in increasing food’s shelf time but is at least twice lighter.
Downgauging is a perfect example of waste control at source. In the grand scheme of things,
downgauging can have significant impact on total waste generation considering that
packaging adds up to about 40% of plastic waste in many countries.

Recycling

Topic of plastics recycling is broad and complex in a sense that there exist multiple
sub-categories of recycling. The four main categories discussed here are primary,
secondary, tertiary and quaternary recycling. The example rates of recycling and energy
recovery (quaternary recycling) for EU countries are shown in Figure 18.

Figure 13. Plastics energy recovery and recycling rates in EU countries, shown as
percentages of plastic waste management. (Hopewell
et al., 2009)

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 The primary recycling is often called a closed-loop recycling because it is a full mechanical
reprocessing into a new or same item with similar properties. Primary recycling is good for
environment because it requires less energy and resources than making product from scratch
as well as reduces waste generation.

Theoretically majority of thermoplastics can undergo close-loop recycling but alien

materials such as metal, paper, colorants and adhesives complicate the process. In best case
scenario, the plastic used for closed-loop recycling is clean of contaminants and is of almost
the same grade to avoid instabilities during reprocessing. Clear PET bottles are the best
example of closed-loop recycling product. They contain little contaminants and are all made
from similar grades. Another example is recycling of HDPE bottles into HDPE crates and
bins, where application of product changes after reprocessing.

A challenge with primary recycling lies also in logistics. Industrial plastic waste comes from
few locations but in large volumes clean and sometimes sorted, which makes col- lection
and reprocessing easy and economically feasible. Collection from consumers, on the other
hand is much harder to achieve due to requirement to have return and collection schemes.
Although per consumer volumes are low, total waste volume is about 5 times larger than
from industrial sector, so there is clear need for improved collection and sorting schemes.
Also, unlike for metals and glass, the polymer chains become shorter with each recycling
cycle impacting material properties. Therefore, plastic item can undergo only a few closed-
loop recycling cycles after which other recycling or disposal method needs to be used.

Secondary recycling also referred to as downgrading is reprocessing into products that

would not normally be done from virgin plastics. Plastic lumber, which can be extensively
used for making benches, tables, fences and terraces is a great example of down- grading.
Downgrading is an option for plastics that are not suitable for closed-loop re- cycling.

Tertiary recycling is de-polymerization of plastics to its chemical monomers. It can then be

used to re-manufacture plastics, or to produce other synthetic products. Chemical re- cycling
is more costly than production from petrochemical feedstock as it involves collection,
treatment and energy input for decomposition. Therefore, this method is not of- ten used
unless serious subsidies are in place.

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 CHAPTER 4

OVERVIEW OF EXPERIMENTAL SETUP

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Construction:
3-D MODEL-

Figure no. 14
14.1 cad 3d model of project

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 Figure no. 14
14.2 cad 3d model of project

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2-D DRAWING-

Figure no. 15 drafting of project

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PART DRAWING-

Figure no.16 part drawing of model

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EXPLODED VIEW-

Figure no. 17
17.1 Exploded view of project model

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 Figure no. 17
17.2 Exploded view of project model

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COMPONENTS-

1. STAND-

Material – Steel
Properties- 1) Elastic Modulus - 2.10e5 N/MM2
2) Poisson’ s Ratio – 0.30
3) Density - 7.89e-9 tonne/mm3
4) Ultimate Strength - 420 N/mm2
It is L- shaped made up of steel. It holds the entire model. It can be
attached to vertical surface by clam. The height can be adjusted.

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 2. PLATE-

Material – Steel
Properties- 1) Elastic Modulus - 2.10e5 N/MM2
2) Poisson’ s Ratio – 0.30
3) Density - 7.89e-9 tonne/mm3
4) Ultimate Strength - 420 N/mm2
It is a rectangular plate which is welded to the short limb of the
stand. A hole of diameter 160 mm is made at centre to
accommodate pump. The bucket is fixed over it.

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3.BUCKET-

Material – Polycarbonate
Properties- 1) Elastic Modulus 2400 N/MM2
2) Poisson’ s Ratio – 0.318
3) Density – 11.8e-10 tonne/mm3
4) Ultimate Strength - 55 N/mm2
It is one of the main components of the project. It is actually a
bucket which acts as working volume and a casing for pump and
catch bag.

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4.CLAMP -

Material – Aluminum Alloy

Properties- 1) Elastic Modulus –0.75e5 N/MM2
2) Poisson’ s Ratio – 0.33
3) Density –2.29e-9 tonne/mm3
4) Ultimate Strength - 260 N/mm2
Clamp is used to hold the entire project. M24 bolt is used to
fastened the clamp. The height can be adj
adjusted
usted by raising or
lowering the stand with respect to clamp.

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5.CATCH BAG-

Material – Jute fiber

The catch bag is made up of Jute which is considered as a good and
durable material for water cleaning. When suction starts the waste
get trapped inside it. It made such a that it can be easily taken out
and again placed inside the bucket. Jute material is shown below
below-

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 1. PUMP-

Material – Cast Iron

Specifications-
Material used- aluminum alloy
Capacity-12 /24 volt
Application-for
for low pressure application
Flow rate-15 lit/min
Power- 0.25 HP
Type - submersible pump

This type of pump suitable for switch and microswitch system.

The submersible mini pump is low cost solution for water and oil system
motorhome, caravon, and marine application. The main features are it is
efficient, low current draw, high capacity voltage also smooth and
simple in operation. the pump is usually not preffered for gasoli
gasoline,
alcohol and flammable bodies. It is light weight and easy to install.

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MESHED MODEL-

Figure no.18 Meshed model

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4.2 Working -

The Seabinis a floating waste bin that is located in the water at boat marinas, docks, harbours,
and other coastal areas where it can be regularly emptied and maintained. The Seabinis collecting all floating
rubbish; water is sucked in from the surface and it passes through a catch bag filter inside the Seabin. The water is
then pumped back to the sea, leaving the litter and debris trapped in the catch bag for proper disposal. Hence, The
Seabin requires frequent cleaning that is done by various environmentally conscious organisationsin different
locations. The Seabin also has the potential to collect certain amounts of the oils and liquid pollutants floating on
the water surface. The Seabins are currently using 12 volt submersible water pumps, which have the option to use
alternative and cleaner energy sources. This may be using solar, wave or wind power technology depending on the
geographical location and current technologies available.

Figure no.19 working of model

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 CHAPTER 5
Calculations and Results

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5.1 Calculation of rate of flow -

The waste that we have to collect through this model are plastic bottle, algae, plastic bags, leaves, bottle
caps, wrappers, etc. that’s the floating pollutants.
Size of 1 lit cold drink bottle is 30.5 x 8.6 x 9.4 cm
To catch a good quantity of waste we considered following bucket dimensions

Determining project model Dimensions

Outer Bucket Diameter = 0.5m
Height of the bucket = 0.9m
The upper edge of bucket will be fixed approximately 0.008 to 0.01 m below water surface
So height (H)
0.01m
And breadth (b) = 2 × 𝜋 × 𝑟 = 2 × 𝜋 × 0.5
= 3.14159 m
Discharge through weir
2
𝑄 = × 𝑐𝑑 × 2𝑔 × 𝑏𝐻
3
Cd for flow though weir or dam is generally 0.32–0.385
Cd= 0.35
𝑄 = × 0.35 × √2 × 9.81 × 3.14159 × 0.01
𝑄 = 0.00324695138 m3/sec
𝑄 = 3.24695138LPS
𝑄 =194.8170 lpm
Flow rate while the working condition Q (working) = 194.8170 lpm
At initial or start of the model the bucket will be fully filled with water which pump have to pumped out
Volume of the bucket = 0.4991823 m3
= 499.1823 liters

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Q (Initial)= 499.1823 liters

Discharge/water collection in bucket ==3.24695138 mᶾ/s= 194.8170 lpm

Q (Initial)= 499.1823 liters
Specifications for pump = 15 – 190 lpm submersible pump with varying Speeds
Considering the 90 ° cross section of the bucket
Q/4=a×V ……………..Continuity Eq
V at the edge of the bucket = 0.158894 m/sec

Now using Bernoulli's Principle velocity of Water at different points –

Distance from machine Velocity at that point (in Distance from machine Velocity at that point (in
(in m) m/sec) (in m) m/sec)

0 at edge of the bucket 0.158894 4 0.01765488

1 0.0529667 8 0.00934670

2 0.0317788 16 0.00481497

This Table
able will help u to find, how much time the model will take to clean the different size lakes.

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5.2 Calculation of Forces –

Stress Calculations

There will be two forces which will be acted on the model

1. (Fw) Downward force due to fully field water bucket
2. (Fi ) force on outside body of the bucket due to immerged body

Fw=force acting downwords due to fully filled water bracket

Volume of the bucket-
1/3 π h (R^2+r^2+r×R)
Where,
R=Upper surface radius
r=lower surface radius
h=total height of bucket
:. 1/3 ×π×0.89×(0.5^2
×0.89×(0.5^2 +0.34^2+0.5×0.34)
=0.49918 m^3

NOW CALCULATING DOWNWORD FORCE=

Fw=mass×acceleration
Where,
Mass=density×volume
By using volume of bucket 0.499m^3 and density of water we get mass i. e 0.499 ×1000=499.18 kg
Fw= 499.18×9.81
Fw= 4896.97 N

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Calculation of immersed force on bucket
bucket-:
Given Data-
h=896.72 mm
a=568 mm
b=320 mm
Formula used-
Fi=: ρ g ħ A
Where,
Fi =immersed force (in N)
ρ =desnsity of water (in kg/m^3)
g =specific gravity (i.e 9.81)
ħ =distance between the uppermost surafce of object to the center og gravity of object in water
A=surface area deep inside water mm^2
CG =center of gravity of object inside water

Soln-
Step 1-calculating ħ
Calculating x̅ and y̅
x̅ = h/2
=896.72 /2
=448.36 mm
y̅ =h/3* (a+2a)/(b+a)
=896.72/3*(320+2*568)/(320+568)
=490.09
From above data we got ħ is 448.
36mm

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Calculating Area of bucket under water-
A=1/2*(a+b)*(h)
=1/2*(568+320)*(896.72)
=398.14*10^3 mm^2 i.e.
=0.39814 m^2
Now calculating actual force by using data we got we get.....
Fi=1000 * 9.81*0.448*0.39814

Fi=1751N
Fw = 4896.97 N

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5.3 Results and Analysis –

ANALYSYS (DISPLACEMENT)
DISPLACEMENT) -

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 STRESSES ON COMPONENTS -

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STRESSES ON COMPONENTS
COMPONENTS-

 BUCKET -

 STAND -

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  PLATE-

 CLAMP -

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 CHAPTER 6

CONCLUSION AND FUTURE SCOPE

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 Conclusion:
With the use of the our project around the world we could significantly reduce this
major problem. Our oceans are a major source of food and other supplies that we
utilize. That is why we need to keep it as clean as possible, and protect the creatures
that live in it.
By engaging in close-shore waters specifically, water surface cleaner knows what its goal
is and how to do its part in helping clean the oceans. With the help of the this project, we
can do our part to make close shore-waters a much more habitable and safe
environment for all marine life.
Motivation
With all of the technological advances in today's society there were many options

Future scope:

 Can install in lakes, ponds or any stationary water reservoir

 Smaller version can be install in swimming pools
 Dams Cleaning
 Ship Ports and Docs Cleaning.

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 CHAPTER 7

REFERENCES

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 1. https://www.dezeen.com/2017/05/18/the-ocean-cleanup-begin-extracting-plastic-pacific-
ocean- 2018/
2. http://www.iflscience.com/environment/19-year-old-develops-machine-clean-oceans-
plastichttp://seabinproject.com
3. www.theoceancleanup.com, The Ocean Cleanup,. "How it all The Ocean Cleanup.
Retrieved 2017-06-28.
4. www.theoceancleanup.com, The Ocean Cleanup, The Ocean Cleanup. Retrieved 2017-
06-28

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