You all would have seen a video circulating around social media on the clean up of the Klang River using the high technology of The Interceptor 002. AkzoNobel and The Ocean Cleanup partners to battle marine pollution and the Klang River is among the first locations in the world to deploy Interceptors.
Founded in 2013, ‘The Ocean Cleanup’ is an organisation that aims to clean up to 90% of plastic pollution in the ocean by 2040. To do this, various methods are being used, including deploying floaters at strategic locations where debris would naturally accumulate, as well as setting up 1,000 autonomous cleaning devices called ‘Interceptors’ in major rivers across the globe in the next five years.
These Interceptors are capable of extracting up to 50,000 kg of trash per day and are currently cleaning up major rivers in the Netherlands and South East Asia. Each Interceptor system has a storage capacity of 50m (roughly the volume of ten adult elephants) and feature protective coatings from AkzoNobel’s International product range, notably Intershield 300 – an industry leading anticorrosive universal primer with an extensive track record of 30 years. The supplied coatings system provides high performance anti-corrosion, with minimal maintenance required.
Four Interceptors have been built to-date – two systems are already operational in Jakarta (Indonesia) and Klang (Malaysia). A third system is being installed in the Mekong Delta in Vietnam, while the fourth is destined to be deployed in Santo Domingo (Dominican Republic).
In Malaysia, the active Interceptor is currently clearing debris in the Klang River. According to research by The Ocean Cleanup, the Klang River is one of the 50 most polluted rivers worldwide. Successfully filtering debris in the Klang River would effectively ensure a cleaner Straits of Malacca.
Jean Michel Gauthier, Global Business Director for AkzoNobel’s Marine, Protective and Yacht Coatings business, said: “As official coatings partner to The Ocean Cleanup, we’re fully committed to supporting the fantastic work they’re doing to stop the world drowning in plastic.
“As well as supplying marine coatings with a proven track record, our experts were also involved in the design of the Interceptor devices, so we’re excited to see them deployed in the rivers around the world,” added Gauthier.
The partnership between AkzoNobel and The Ocean Cleanup was launched in 2017. Technical teams from both parties are continuing to work closely together to develop coatings solutions for the ocean cleaning systems, which are still in the prototype phase. Testing of the devices is continuing in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, with work on the latest prototype already underway.