MAR 13, 2018

This Machine Can Clean Up the Trash at the Bottom of Rivers

WRITTEN BY: Anthony Bouchard


The trash we fail to dispose of properly can quickly end up at the bottoms of waterways nearby, but a new tool called an Aquatic Weed Harvester shows promise for cleaning up some of that litter.

The contraption was initially designed to harvest underwater weeds, but it also seems to be effective at removing garbage from streams, rivers, and lakes, among other things.

The Aquatic Weed Harvester takes advantage of a built-in conveyor belt that pulls objects from the bottom of a body of water to the top. From there, the belt feeds everything into a storage hold on the vessel, which can then be unloaded at the shore.

Similar tools exist for cleaning up the sand on beaches and commissioning more of these machines to make the world a cleaner and better place to live seems like a great idea.