Ocean Plastic Recovery (OPR) Vessel

Remediation Strategy

Collection

Plastic Type

Macroplastics

Invention Category

Boats with Conveyor Belts

Used?

Yes

Included in analysis?

Yes

Location Invented

United States

Year^*

2019

Description

Boat with 4 panga vessels, an open, outboard powered fishing boat, and an accompanying landing craft, which will place booms in river mouth areas and pick out the trash they intercept.

Effectiveness or Ecological Impact

Non-peer-reviewed Effectiveness

The larger vessel can carry 310,000 pounds of trash in one trip. The small "panga" vessesl can carry 1500 pounds on one trip. Since its founding in January 2017, it has pulled over 2 million pounds of plastic and trash (Lobeck, 2018).

References

Bakkalapulo, M. (n.d.). This South Florida Company Wants To Clean The Seas - And Prove It Can Make Money Doing It. WJCT NEWS. https://news.wjct.org/post/south-florida-company-wants-clean-seas-and-prove-it-can-make-money-doing-it

Non-peer-reviewed Effectiveness

Lobeck, R. (2018). 4ocean Unveils One-Of-A-Kind 135-Foot Ocean Plastic Recovery Vessel. https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/4ocean-unveils-one-of-a-kind-135-foot-ocean-plastic-recovery-vessel-300747922.html

* Year designates the year invented; if the year invented was unavailable, the earliest year that an article about the technology was published was used.