Business_Spotlight_-_Nr.2_2020

TECHNOLOGY 2/2020 Business Spotlight 65

Foto: The Great Bubble Barrier; privat

TECHNOLOGY

TRAPPING PLASTICS

Stemming the tide

Plastik verunreinigt auch Flüsse und Kanäle. Mit einer

innovativen Methode will man in den Grachten von

Amsterdam treibendes Plastik auffangen, ohne Boote und

Wassertiere zu beeinträchtigen. Von SENAY BOZTAS

ADVANCED

A

msterdam now has the

world’s first rubbish barrier

made entirely from bubbles.

The idea is to catch waste

in the city’s canals before it

reaches the North Sea.

In 2019, a Dutch start-up

and the Amsterdam munici-

pality launched

the Great Bub-

ble Barrier, a

simple device that channels

rubbish — including small

pieces of plastic — to the

side of the Westerdok Ca-

nal, where it can be collect-

ed. Tests have shown that

it can redirect more than

80 per cent of rubbish.

“More than two-thirds of plastics in the

ocean comes out of rivers and canals — so

if you have to intercept it, why not do it

in the rivers?” says Philip Ehrhorn, co-

inventor of the technology. “You can’t

put a physical barrier in a canal: it has to

be open for wildlife and recreation.”

The hope is that the innovation will

help to address the crisis of plastic waste

in the oceans. Estimates suggest as much

as eight million tonnes of plastic end up

in the world’s seas each year — the equiv-

alent of a truckload of plastic rubbish

every minute.

The bubble barrier is a long, perforated

tube that runs diagonally

for 60 metres across the

bottom of the canal. Com-

pressed air is pumped

through the tube and

rises upwards. The nat-

ural water current helps

to push waste to one side

of the canal. The plastic

waste is then trapped in

a small rubbish platform

on the side of the Westerdokskade, at the

end of Amsterdam’s historic canal belt.

From there, it can be collected.

A jacuzzi for plastics

Ehrhorn is a German naval architect and

environmental engineer. He got the in-

Stemming the tide

[)stemIN DE (taId]

, Der Flut Einhalt gebieten

bubble barrier

[(bVb&l )bÄriE]

, Barriere aus Luftblasen

canal [kE(nÄl]

, Kanal; Gracht

compressed air

[kEm)prest (eE]

, Druckluft

intercept sth. [)IntE(sept]

, etw. auffangen

jacuzzi [dZE(ku:zi]

, [wg. Aussprache]

municipality

[)mjunIsI(pÄlEti]

, Stadtverwaltung

naval architect

[)neIv&l (A:kItekt]

, Schiffsbauingenieur(in)

recreation [)rekri(eIS&n]

, Freizeitbeschäftigung(en)

rubbish barrier

[(rVbIS )bÄriE] UK

, Müllbarriere, -sperre

trapped: be ~ [trÄpt]

, aufgefangen werden

tube [tj:ub] , Rohr

It’s the

world’s first

rubbish barrier

made entirely

from bubbles

SENAY BOZTAS

is a journalist

who writes on

Europe, par-

ticularly The

Netherlands and

Belgium. She

was formerly a

reporter for The

Sunday Times.