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Tag: Plastic debris

A MEGA 3D-PRINTED EUROVISION TROPHY

The four-metre high 3D-printed Eurovision trophy made from recycled PET material retrieved from Rotterdam waters is a genuine eye-catcher with a sustainable green footprint. This trophy is a reflection of the city’s character, long driven by the port, innovation and collaboration.

The Rotterdam proving ground

With its rugged port buildings and superb views over the water, the Rotterdam Makers District is the ideal spot for an innovative manufacturing industry. This is where new technologies are thought out, tested and applied. An area still bristling with raw edges, offering the space for businesses and educational institutions to experiment, explore and work together on a clean and sustainable future for the port and the city.

The new technologies here are based upon digitalisation, robotics and continuous fibre additive manufacturing (CFAM), and on the application of new, sustainable energy and materials. All of this results in the Makers District being an exciting proving ground and showcase for the new economy, there for all to see.

Circular production of PET material
Young entrepreneur Wesley dos Santos is the founder of the circular water-recreation business iKapitein. Sailing on his eco-barge through the city of Rotterdam, you will become aware of the diversity that the city has to offer, ranging from historic Delfshaven to the legendary skyline. The electric eco-barge removes litter from the water as it sails along; as the vessel moves forward, its built-in litter-catching system retrieves plastic from the water. If you would prefer to be more active on the water, grab a water bike and pick litter from the water as you move about! Wesley’s mission is to see more electric boats with built-in litter-catchers and sustainable water bikes on the waters of Rotterdam. Active boating and biking, where fun, innovation, awareness and recycling come together.

The collected PET litter from Rotterdam waters is converted into printing material, which Royal 3D uses to create new products with a 3D printer. This is not just any 3D printer, it is a CFAM, purpose-built for Royal 3D by CEAD in Delft. CFAM stands for Continuous Fibre Additive Manufacturing, meaning that glass fibre is continuously added to the printing material. This produces a stronger, more rigid and consequently more sustainable end result. This material forms the basis of the giant Eurovision trophy and is fully recyclable, even if a print should go wrong.

RanMarine WasteShark

The future of the trophy
The giant trophy will be put up for auction after the Eurovision Song Contest and the proceeds will go to the Dutch company RanMarine, a Rotterdam-based business born out of a desire to improve the welfare of our world’s oceans and waterways.

Their water-cleaning WasteShark can play a significant role in helping to address the scourge of plastics, associated waste and biomass when deployed in appropriate environments. They have been specifically designed for use within ports, harbours, marinas and inland waterways.

They focus on helping to clear plastics and associated trash from waterways before they enter the ocean where their containment and collection becomes far more challenging and costly.

Read more on Rotterdam Make it Happen, visit their website

These are the Top Environmental Engineering Startups in The Netherlands (2021)

This article showcases our top picks for the best The Netherlands based Environmental Engineering startups. These startups and companies are taking a variety of approaches to innovating the Environmental Engineering industry, but are all exceptional companies well worth a follow.

We tried to pick companies across the size spectrum from cutting edge startups to established brands.

We selected these startups and companies for exceptional performance in one of these categories:

  • Innovation
    • Innovative ideas
    • Innovative route to market
    • Innovative product
  • Growth
    • Exceptional growth
    • Exceptional growth strategy
  • Management
  • Societal impact

RanMarine USA

RanMarine USA has merged US operations with the global operations of RanMarine Technology B.V., developer of the WasteShark technology and based in Rotterdam, Netherlands. The WasteShark is a data-driven, autonomous aqua-drone that cleans marine waste, while collecting critical water quality data from local water sources.

The WasteShark is a unique smart city solution which is financially feasible for communities of all sizes and delivers quantifiable results day one. Waste and Pollution Removal – efficiently and effectively removes over 1000+ pounds of marine waste and pollution per day.

Water Quality Safety – collects and analyzes real-time data about water quality to assist with compliance with pollution regulations and identify potential contaminants early to minimize impact on the aquatic ecosystem, environment, and constituents. Biomass Removal – removes biomass (e.g., hyacinths, duckweed, algae) at the surface, which helps maintain aquatic ecosystems and mitigates potential damage to water equipment and facilities.

Oil Waste Collection – designed to operate in confined areas around boats, ships, docks and slips. The WasteShark can be fitted with a special drum oil skimmer for spill collection, and high-quality crude and refined oil sensors can be added for water quality data collection and hydrocarbon detection..

Read full article by The Startup Pill

Looking to Nature’s Designs to Solve Human Made Problems

When a genius and an icon like Leonardo da Vinci looks to nature for inspiration in his designs and inventions, art and creativity, how could the rest of us even think about ignoring this wondrous three-billion-year history of evolution?

In his day, when Leonardo was roaming the countryside, strolling through the streets of Florence, or counting the branches on a tree, he embodied an intense curiosity about the natural world around him. It was a deeply embedded curiosita. Today we call it biomimicry.

Velcro is a much cited example of biomimicry (inspired by burdock burrs stuck in a dog’s fur), as is the flipper (inspired by ducks and their webbed feet), the submarine (whales), and Japan’s famous bullet train (the kingfisher). But none of these solutions actually do our environment any good.

Because when people look to nature to solve problems, shouldn’t nature herself benefit too?

We should all know by now that nature is in crisis. We’re facing food and water insecurity, melting ice caps, global warming from fossil fuels, deforestation, biodiversity loss, air pollution, and of course, plastic pollution. And that’s not even all of it.

But let’s look beyond the crisis of nature for a moment, and look to nature herself for the inspiration we need to solve the mess we’ve collectively made. As lovers of the ocean, we can’t help but dive under the waters for a closer peek at the plethora of magnificent creatures that live there as an example of extraordinary design.

The electric eel, for example, can produce enough electricity to light up to 10 light bulbs. Sea cucumbers clean the ocean (they eat anything that sticks to sand, take in the food, and then excrete the sand again, all nice and clean). Feather stars are almost walking plants that wave their ‘feathers’ around to move underwater. The blue dragon is a sea slug that floats upside down on the ocean waves. And basket stars, close relatives of starfish, use their many arms to create an intricate web to trap their prey.

And then of course, there’s the incredible fact that 76% of ocean creatures produce their own light. And still, we only know a tiny fraction of our ocean’s various species. New marine life is being discovered every day. How could we not be inspired to a da Vinci level of curiosity?

Biologist Frank Fish from West Chester University in Pennsylvania wins in biomimicry and sustainability for how he’s changing the way engineers think about aerodynamic design and inspiring the redesign of wind turbine blades that produce more energy more efficiently. And all this because Fish was captured by the unique design of humpback whales and their flipper bumps.

For EcoStp, their inspiration for zero power, zero chemicals, sewage treatment technology came from a cow’s own internal process. Nature’s genius empowered them to create a regenerative innovation that utilises the functional principles and strategies of microorganisms and the ecosystem found in a cow’s stomach. EcoStp’s patented technology treats sewage in a decentralised, self-sustainable way, without power, chemicals, or human intervention.

RanMarine’s waste-devouring WasteShark was inspired by the gentle and majestic giant of the ocean, the whale shark. A filter feeder, the whale shark swims with its mouth wide open, scooping up plankton and small fish as it moves slowly forward. And now its drone twin, the WasteShark, is also in our waters with its own wide-open mouth and voluminous belly, but its scooping up plastic pollution instead.

Richard Hardiman, CEO of RanMarine Technology, says it started at the V&A Harbour in Cape Town. Watching two people in a boat trying to battle plastic waste with nothing more than a pool net, he was struck by the futility of their efforts. Battling both tide and people’s inability to clean up after themselves.

‘When I later discovered this was standard practice in harbours all over the globe … and when I realised just how dire the marine plastic pollution crisis really is, I just knew I had to do better than that. We had to do better than that.’

The result is an autonomous aqua-drone that can collect up to 500kg of waste per day with a zero carbon footprint. It also harvests vital data about the health of the water. In fact, over 200 environmental sensors can be fitted onto one WasteShark, continuously reporting on vital facts to help us keep our waters healthy and protect the creatures living in it.

It’s a no brainer, when nature is our mentor, when nature is our inspiration, when we are truly connected, the sustainable solutions can be limitless.

Top 5 sustainability pioneers in Europe

The events of the past year have put many things in perspective – and have served to highlight the urgency of the climate crisis. Sustainable start-ups are attracting increased interest from ethically-motivated consumers, as the world looks towards a greener post-pandemic future.

The pandemic has prompted us to reconsider many aspects of our lives, from our working habits to how and where we spend our money. It has also served to heighten our awareness of environmental issues, as we begin to think of the world we would like to see post-pandemic. According to a survey by management consultancy company Accenture, 60 percent of consumers say that they have started making more environmentally friendly, sustainable or ethical purchases since the onset of the pandemic in 2020.

In the business world, too, sustainability has become a top priority over the course of the past year, with major firms such as Unilever and Google announcing significant green pledges over the course of 2020. Even amid the COVID-19 crunch, venture capital firms have been pouring money into sustainable, purpose-driven start-ups, suggesting that eco-friendly products and services may well be a key area of growth in the post-pandemic world. With that in mind, let’s take a look at five of Europe’s top sustainability pioneers.

1 – Oatly (Sweden)
The non-dairy milk market has been booming in recent years, and is predicted to reach revenues of over $38bn by 2024. This is good news indeed for Swedish oat milk-manufacturer Oatly, which has seen its sales soar as ethically-driven consumers seek alternatives to traditional dairy products. Founded in the 1990s, the company states its aim as: “to make it easy for people to turn what they eat and drink into moments of healthy joy, without recklessly taxing the planets’ resources in the process.” Boasting partnerships with major retailers such as Starbucks, the company is undoubtedly one of the most prominent names in the plant-based industry, and is now said to be seeking a valuation of close to $10bn as it prepares to go public on the US stock exchange.

2 – EO Charging (UK)
With many of the world’s workers giving up the daily commute in order to work from home in 2020, the pandemic has encouraged a reassessment of our transport usage. While global car sales fell by around a fifth during the pandemic, sales of electric vehicles rose by a remarkable 43 percent, showing an increased appetite for eco-friendly cars. As the demand for electric vehicles grows, the need for increased EV charging infrastructure is becoming ever more apparent. Based in the UK, EO Charging is one of Europe’s leading manufacturers of electric vehicle charging ports, having sold more than 30,000 charging points in over 30 countries in the five years since its launch. Working with high-profile partners such as Uber, Sainsbury’s and Ocado to facilitate a transition to EV, EO Charging was recently named among the Financial Times’ fastest growing companies in Europe.

3 – Cellugy (Denmark)
Plastic pollution is an area that has come into sharp focus over the course of the past 12 months, with discarded single-use masks becoming an all too common sight since the start of the pandemic. Based in Aarhus, Denmark, Cellugy is a pioneering biotech start-up that is committed to helping to bring an end to plastic pollution through the creation of alternative forms of packaging. Its innovative product, called EcoFLEXY, is a durable material designed for use in the packaging industry. Made from recycled food waste, the product is all-natural, fully recyclable and biodegradable. In a recent seed round, the company raised €2.38m from the European Innovation Council Accelerator, which will allow it to scale-up production of its EcoFLEXY product.

4 – RanMarine Technology (Netherlands)
An unexpected side effect of the COVID-19 pandemic has been the unfortunate increase in marine litter pollution. Plastic gloves, single-use masks and other forms of PPE have been washing up on beaches across the globe, with this increase in plastic waste threatening the health of marine life the world over. Dutch drone technology firm RanMarine is the company behind the innovative WasteShark – a product designed to clear plastic and other waste from all manner of waterways. The device has a 10-hour ‘swimtime,’ and is able to clear 500kg of debris from the water each day – with users able to control the device remotely and monitor its progress in real time. The firm secured a Series-A investment in 2020, allowing it to scale-up its operations this year and beyond.

Read full article by World Finance article

First-Of-Its Kind Partnership to Address Plastic Pollution Crisis

RanMarine Technology and The Planet Calls are pleased to announce their newly minted strategic partnership. Combining RanMarine’s award-winning technology for cleaning the world’s waters and The Planets Calls’ unwavering mission for a greener and more sustainable planet, it’s a first-of-its kind partnership that forges a new way forward.

In a referral partner agreement, the brands have come together on a unique platform to address the alarmingly compounding issue of the plastic pollution crisis.

In some form, almost all the plastic ever created still exists today. The amount of plastic produced globally in just one year is almost the same as the entire weight of humanity. And scientists predict that by 2050, there will be more tonnes of plastic in our oceans than tonnes of fish.

There is no doubt that the call to act is urgent.

Richard Hardiman, CEO of RanMarine Technology says,  ‘As a cleantech company, we are regularly introduced to people and networks who are passionate about the earth, its waters, and the need for urgent restoration; I can honestly say that few embody the same passion and vision or align with our mission so clearly as The Planet Calls; to be partnered with CEO Leslie Maliepaard and her team, to us at RanMarine, is the embodiment of what we are looking to achieve in creating stronger networks and commitments in the fight against plastic pollution.’

And in this fight against plastic pollution, RanMarine’s WasteShark drone range offers an incredibly intelligent tool for cleaning our waters.

Modelled on planet earth’s biggest fish, the whale shark, The WasteShark is the world’s first waste harvesting autonomous aqua-drone that collects marine waste, biomass, and plastic from all types of water. It can collect up to 500kg of waste per day with a zero carbon footprint.

In addition to cleaning our waters, the WasteShark can be equipped with water quality sensors to capture and report on the health of our planet’s water. RanMarine’s mission is to empower people and organisations across the planet to restore the marine environment to its natural state.

To date, Dutch-based RanMarine has introduced WasteSharks to help clean up harbour waters in the United States, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, South Africa, India, Denmark, Sweden, the United Arab Emirates, and Australia.

The eco-friendly and quietly unobtrusive drone is proving most effective at waste chokeholds like harbours, rivers, and canals where it can devour plastic pollution before it spills into our oceans.

Encouraged by the immediate impact the WasteShark can have on the health of our waters, the sustainability specialists at The Planet Calls already see the synergy and distinct value this range can offer their clients.

Read the full article by The Planet Calls article

Assistance needed to collect nurdles from beaches

Litter4Tokens is calling for help following the resurgence of plastic nurdle pollution on SA beaches.

Litter4Tokens is an innovative recycling solution, whereby bags of recyclable material are exchanged for tokens valued at R5 each. These can be redeemed for dry goods in token shops at the many Litter4Tokens outlets across South Africa, thereby targeting the dual challenge of pollution and hunger simultaneously. Since the launch of Litter4Tokens in 2015, more than 528 000 bags of litter have been prevented from reaching the oceans, and more than 156 000 people in remote South African communities fed.

The long-term solution is the large-scale Basking Shark machine which removes small, medium and large shoreline plastic efficiently, by sucking it into a massive tube, thereby eradicating microplastics and improving the health of marine ecosystems.

Litter4tokens has partnered with RanMarine to offer the WasteShark, the first water drone based on the whale shark frame. This is designed to work inside the coastal waters, primarily in city waterways, ports, rivers and waters, thereby stopping the flow of waste and plastics at the source. In addition to collecting waste, it also collects valuable data that can be used for enhanced ocean clean-ups.

Read the full article by Berea Mail article

Can autonomous water-robot technology solve the ‘pollution problem’ in water bodies?

Autonomous aerial robots have solved a number of impending problems across various industries, helping enterprises ensure completion of critical missions without any hindrance. However, the pollution problem in the water bodies has persisted and the aerial robots haven’t been able to contribute much in this regard.

They have majorly been involved in enhancing the security paradigm and ensuring asset protection across both private and government sectors. The authorities have been longing for a comprehensive solution to tackle the issue of water pollution.

This is where water-robot technology is coming up as a great innovative model to deal with the pending pollution problem in the water bodies. These autonomous vehicles are capable of removing tonnes of plastic waste from the surface of the water bodies, other than providing insights pertaining to the quality levels.The unmanned water vehicles are quite affordable and come with extended durability.

While many AI-based firms have worked extensively to develop fast-moving and heavy-duty water robots to clean up massive patches of plastic waste with great efficiency, RanMarine’s WasteShark has taken the lead to clean up as much as 200 litres of ocean waste before being emptied. It floats across the water bodies with its mouth wide-open and collects trash without affecting the marine life. While RanMarine is known for designing industrial autonomous surface vessels for ports, harbours and other marine and water environments, WasteShark is undoubtedly the best product developed by the company.

Some of the best features of WasteShark include 10-hour swim time, besides the ability to clean up over 500 kgsof waste every day. The product is already deployed in several water bodies across various countries and the results have been encouraging.

As a result, RanMarine has attracted investment from Luxembourg-based Boundary Holding, led by RajatKhare. The company is looking to utilize the funds to expand the business and set a new benchmark in the clean-tech sector.

The integration of advanced technology has opened the doors for various sectors and firms to find appropriate solutions to the new-age problems. The role of water-robots is also going to be crucial to live up to the expectations, as the pollution levels keep increasing, impacting the marine life, as well as the humans.

Read the full article by Globe Stats article

12 Netherlands-based energy startups that raised over €1M in 2020

The world is increasingly growing aware of the detrimental effects of fossil fuel and is actively seeking an alternative. According to the EEA, “The European energy system is undergoing rapid changes to set the EU economy on a low-carbon and resource-efficient path. Renewable energy is instrumental to this transformation. EU efforts to double the share of renewable energy in its consumption have paid off, having reduced significantly the amount of fossil fuels used and their associated greenhouse gas emissions.”

A number of European startups are also playing their part in helping the EU achieve a sustainable future; especially in the Netherlands. According to a report, the Netherlands is aiming for a rapid transition to a carbon-neutral economy to help its economic growth and energy security. The country has made notable progress on its transition to a carbon-neutral economy and has set targets to reduce them by 49% by 2030 and by 95% by 2050, compared with 1990 levels.

RanMarine Technology

Founder/s: Richard Hardiman
Founded year: 2016
Total funding: €1.6M

RanMarine Technology specialises in the design and development of industrial autonomous surface vessels (ASV’s) for ports, harbours, and other marine and water environments. The company specialises in remote-controlled and autonomous drones. It came up WasteShark, a drone to swim through water, gather data about the marine environment, and extract unwanted material. It is a drone that is efficient, non-threatening, unobtrusive, and long-lasting. This drone will eat plastics and litter, chemicals in the water, and extract pest and alien vegetation.

Read the full article by Silicon Canals article

Autonomous vehicles playing a vital role in waste management

NOVEMBER 5, 2020 BRAND BUZZ

Autonomous vehicles helping in security and ensuring asset protection across public spaces and private organisations is something that we hear of every day. However, very little is known about these vehicles helping in managing waste and even less so of those that run underwater.

From the assessment of the size of a waste pile to the detection of its thermal heat, autonomous vehicles can collect data that are more detailed and insightful than ever. Unlike manned flights, they are a lot more affordable and can acquire equally detailed data. Thus, employing them rather than adopting traditional on-ground inspection method, can not only be cost-effective but time-saving as well, for waste management organisations. In addition to this, in many countries, they are being used to pick up garbage at public places and also identify industrial litterbugs that illegally dump factory wastes. The images and videos captured are used as evidences to take necessary actions against them.

While these are mainly the use-cases of aerial autonomous vehicles, when it comes to waste management, even those that run underwater play an important role. An ideal example is WasteShark by RanMarine Technology, a Netherlands-based tech start-up that specialises in the design and development of industrial autonomous surface vessels for ports, harbours and marine environments.Modelled on the Whale Shark, WasteShark is equipped for waste and data collection underwater, having a swim time of around 10 hours and is capable of cleaning over 500 kg debris a day. Having roped in a number of investors, one of which is the Luxembourg-based investment firm Boundary Holding founded by Rajat Khare, RanMarine has been able to achieve unparalleled feats in the clean-tech sector.

Full article link

Is Autonomous Technology The Solution To Fight Water Pollution?

The quantity of plastic waste is rapidly increasing in rivers, lakes and oceans across the world. Over 245 million tonnes of plastic waste is floating on the surface of oceans, while tonnes of heavy waste materials are present on the floor of these oceans. The presence of plastic waste in waterways has affected all kinds of living beings, including birds, fish, humans, etc.

One of the largest patches of floating plastic and other waste materials present on the surface of oceans is spread over 1.6 million square kilometres in the pacific. There are four similar patches present in the oceans, which are relatively smaller than the one in pacific.

Undoubtedly, it is not an easy job to clean up these patches of garbage only through manpower. However, with the help of water robots, this activity can be performed rather easily. These water robots can operate independently and clean the plastic patches faster with great accuracy.

One such autonomous surface vehicles or water robot, known as WasteShark can clean up to 200 litres of ocean waste before being emptied. Inspired by whale sharks,  WasteShark floats through the sea just like the former with its mouth open, collecting garbage instead of fish. Developed by RanMarine Technology,  WasteShark moves gently that prevents it from posing any danger to the ocean life. It also collects data about water quality, providing insights into how fast plastic is degrading in the seas.

Read the full article by Stats Globe article