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The great bubble barrier: A radical way to reduce plastics in our waters?
RAZOR
08:15

 

Every minute, the equivalent of one truck of plastic trash is dumped into the sea. That's 1,440 trucks every 24 hours, or eight billion kilograms per year. 

Now engineers in Australia and Amsterdam are working together to tackle this problem by creating an innovative solution: A bubble screen barrier that can capture the plastic, while allowing fish and ships to pass unimpeded. 

The bubble barrier is essentially a long, perforated tube which runs diagonally across a river bed and has compressed air pumped through it. As the bubbles from the tube rise upwards, the natural water current helps to push the waste to one side. 

The first operational bubble barrier has already been built in Amsterdam's canal networks at the end of 2019. RAZOR's Shini Somara explores whether this could this be the next big weapon deployed against the growing problem of plastic pollution in our seas and oceans. 

 

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