Kamilo Beach on Hawaii’s Big Island is considered one of the dirtiest beaches in the world, according to Hawai’i Public Radio. Trash washes onto the beach, and 90% of that trash is plastic.
This is a problem for sea life, as these animals often mistake plastic for food, which they can’t process. They sometimes starve to death due to the plastic in their stomachs.
https://www.instagram.com/p/ByzgecFnr41/?utm_source=ig_embed
A dozen mechanical engineering students at the University of Sherbrooke saw a video about Kamilo Beach and were inspired to come up with a solution. Their solution is the Hoola One.
The Hoola One is essentially a giant vacuum. It sucks up beach debris and dumps it into a tank of water. The plastic floats to the top and the sand sinks, and the sand can be redistributed to the beach.
The students tested the vacuum at Kamilo Beach and left it as a donation.
Robotics is the key to scaling solutions for ocean plastic pollution. While the Hoola One may be human-controlled, it is easy to visualize it being fully autonomous. Something to think about at the beach this summer. 😎#circulareconomy #sustainabilitypic.twitter.com/lYPvjjqfKD
— Shawn P. Mitchell (@shawnpmitchell) June 28, 2019
The students are doing additional testing to make sure the vacuuming won’t negatively impact beaches, and they are looking for more sponsors to make more Hoola Ones.
Here’s hoping that this can help solve the problem of microplastics on beaches and keep our ocean life safe!
