Design of a Plastic Waste Clean-up Array System for Bolgoda Lake

Abstract

The harmful effects of plastic in waterbodies are well established. Its effects extend to animals in higher trophic levels. This paper presents a reliable and cost-effective waste cleanup device capable of removing floating and partially buoyant waste from freshwater bodies. The device described is a passive clean up system which consists of three main phases, namely, catching, concentration, and collection phase. The catching phase traps the waste and directs it towards a collection cage. The collection cage retains the captured waste, and a conveyor belt extracts it. Finally, the waste trapped is transferred to an exit tray which slides the waste into a bin on the riverbank. A prototype of the device was fabricated and tested in Weras Ganga. The majority of the waste extracted was plastic packaging. However, small quantities of organic substances were extracted as well.