The SeaCleaners is developing a pioneering solution for the collection and recovery of floating plastic macro-waste: the Manta, an innovative ship equipped with an onboard plant, which will be launched in 2024. This giant of the seas will be the first deep-sea vessel capable of collecting and mass processing floating oceanic waste before it fragments and enters the marine ecosystem in a lastingly manner. A real technological challenge, the Manta will be powered by a combination of several renewable energy production technologies that will minimize the damaging effect of its use of carbon. With its hybrid propulsion, the Manta will have the mobility needed for rapid travel to river mouths and estuaries, where plastic waste slicks are still concentrated by winds and currents and have not yet begun to disintegrate or begin their oceanic drift towards the "plastic continents". It will also be able to intervene rapidly anywhere in the world, following a natural disaster (hurricane, tsunami, etc.) in areas of dense pollution, to collect floating macro-waste before it sinks to the bottom of the sea. A waste-to-energy unit will be installed on board in order to convert the collected waste into electricity and will be complemented by recovery and treatment solutions. Indeed, some waste will integrate circular economy loops on land. Visits to these installations will be organized so that local political, industrial and economic players can discover these technological solutions and appropriate them to combat their own pollution problems. To improve knowledge and strengthen pollution prevention, a scientific laboratory on board will enable the scientific team to geo-locate, quantify and characterize waste during collection campaigns. The data gathered will be provided to the international scientific community as Open Data.

V.A. - from France 

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