Belgium uses giant 'vacuum cleaner' to remove plastic from nature reserve
Engineers have built a giant "vacuum cleaner" to rid a Belgian nature reserve of millions of pieces of plastic litter too small to collect by hand.
The Galgeschoor reserve, a site of mudflats and salt marshes in the port city of Antwerp, has become riddled with plastic particles that built up over years from litter deposited by industry and towns along the river Scheldt.
Port authorities last year launched a competition to design a solution to decontaminate the area, which is home to endangered bird species.
The winner: a huge hoover, dubbed the 'Nul-o-Plastic' and developed by Envisan, the environment division of maritime infrastructure company Jan De Nul Group.
"It's basically a vacuum cleaner which is really smart (and) adapted to this circumstances," engineer Tom Van Vooren, the project's coordinator, told Reuters.
The machine's rubber tires limit soil disruption, and its suction mechanism is designed to avoid damaging plants.
The aim is to pull roughly 7.5 tonnes of plastic pellets out of the reserve. A first test concludes later this month.
Currently, less than a third of Europe's plastic waste is recycled. To help curb litter, the European Union is planning new rules to ensure all packaging can be reused or recycled, and will ban single-use plastic cutlery and straws from 2021.
(Source: Reuters)
Hundreds in Rio de Janeiro rally to slam countries sending money, bombs to Israel
COP29: Iran calls on international community to lift sanctions
Millions of Nigerians go hungry as floods compound hardship
VIDEO | Iran's president urges Pope to help end Israel's onslaught in Gaza
Iran's senior legal official: ICC arrest warrants for Netanyahu ‘great victory'
Nov. 21: ‘Axis of Resistance’ operations against Israeli occupation
VIDEO | Israeli forces storm West Bank’s Jenin again, target civilians
Iran activates advanced centrifuges after IAEA's 'unjust' resolution
VIDEO | Press TV's news headlines
Iran FM: Response to Israeli aggression 'inevitable'
VIDEO | Iran eases the rules for exporting hand-woven carpets
PressTV NEWSLETTER
now
This makes it easy to access the Press TV website
