In an attempt to catch waste in the city’s canals before it reaches the North Sea, the world’s first rubbish barrier made entirely from bubbles has been unveiled in Amsterdam.
A Dutch start-up, the Amsterdam municipality and the regional water board launched the Great Bubble Barrier, to the side of the Westerdok canal where it can be retrieved.
The simple device that channels rubbish, especially small pieces of plastic, has been tested and shown it can divert more than 80 per cent of flotsam.
The bubble barrier is a long, perforated tube running diagonally for 60 metres across the bottom of the canal and it is hoped that the innovation will help to address the mounting crisis of plastic waste in the ocean.
Photograph: Peter de Jong/AP
Compressed air is pumped through the tube and rises upwards, and then the natural water current helps to push waste to one side. It is trapped in a small rubbish platform on the side of the Westerdokskade at the tip of Amsterdam’s historic canal belt.
According to The Guardian the first operational barrier in Amsterdam, due to run 24 hours a day for three years, aims to supplement dredging operations, which currently collect 42,000 kg of larger plastics from the Dutch capital’s waterways each year.
Bubble barrier waste will be separately collected, then analysed by plastics action group Schone Rivieren (Clean rivers).
Marieke van Doorninck, head of sustainability for Amsterdam council, tells the Guardian: “Amsterdam’s canals have enormous appeal,” she said. “But when you think of them, you don’t think about plastic bottles and bags in the water. The bubble barrier will mean fewer plastics reach the ocean, and is a step towards better regulation of our ecosystem, to the benefit of man, beast and environment.”