Tackling 11 million tons of plastics with River Barriers

Welcome to Suits & Tides, the sustainability blog with more knowledge than microplastics in the ocean. This week, we discuss the power of our river barriers and how they impact the environment and tackle plastic pollution in the ocean and the waterways.

Plastic waste is a leading cause of ocean pollution, with approximately 11 million tons of plastic entering our oceans annually, as estimated by the United Nations Environmental Program report.

Marine plastic pollution poses a significant threat to the environment, marine, and human health as it leaks into the marine environment and over time breaks into microplastic. It has recently been concluded that rivers hold a substantial burden in contributing to ocean plastic pollution - just imagine that 80 percent of marine debris originates from land-based sources, primarily carried by over 1,000 rivers of the world, mainly in Asia and Southeast Asia, and most are carried by small rivers cutting through densely populated urban areas.? This is because rivers, essentially, serve as pollution conduits, transporting the (vast amounts of) plastic waste dumped out into it, to our oceans. Unfortunately, it is exactly because of the river's capacity to “lead things away” that waste gets dumped into it—making it the deliberate recipient of waste disposal, and thus a leakage hotspot for marine plastic pollution.

Knowing this, a question thus arises:

How do we minimize, if not stop, plastic leakage from entering the ocean? Or rather, how can we turn our understanding of the problem into an impactful solution?

A promising solution to this environmental problem is River Barriers.

A river barrier is a floating contraption of buoyant pipes attached to a submerged metal grid specifically designed to intercept and capture floating debris, such as plastic waste, from rivers and waterways before it reaches the open sea. River barriers have gained recognition as a promising solution to combat plastic leakage from rivers into oceans through their many successful use cases globally, especially in Southeast Asia. The barriers are typically placed in tributaries to larger rivers to intercept and capture floating plastic waste, without disturbing river traffic, before it reaches the river—where it is harder to collect.

Seven Clean Seas River Barriers

Seven Clean Seas is committed to removing 10 million kg of marine plastic waste from our environment by 2025. Employing efficient and impactful solutions that can address the pollution earlier on, is part of the journey for how we will get there. This is where the deployment of river barriers comes in.

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Through our work on the river Bengkong, Batam, we have seen the hugely concerning amounts of plastic waste flowing in the river—more than what we can stop with our crew. To stop this leakage, we therefore needed a 24/7 solution that would stop this leakage—before it enters the Bengkong River where it is a difficult task to collect it.

On June 14, 2023, we installed our first two barriers. From the open-source solution, Seven Clean Seas made innovations in the construction materials and the design to meet the needs of the tributaries where the barriers are installed. For example, we innovated on the material choice of the barrier from normally using PVC pipes because of their lightweight and low cost, to instead using HDPE pipes as these are easier/possible to recycle.

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The need for the technology became clearer and faster than we thought: already within hours of installing the barriers did we see large amounts piling up at both barriers, and in two months our barriers have recovered nearly 23 tons of plastic debris.? Plastic cups and plates, plastic bags, food wrapping, foam food containers, and product—and logistics—packaging are the top five categories of plastic debris collected (by amount).

The Benefits of River Barriers

1. Source Interception & Environmental Preservation River barriers act as a first line of defense, intercepting plastic waste at (or close to) its source. By capturing debris upstreams in the river, these barriers prevent the waste dumped into them from entering the river and ocean (where it may never be recovered before it breaks into microplastics), thereby preventing damage to the health and life of these ecosystems.
2. Cost-Effectiveness Implementing river barriers is a cost-effective approach to tackling plastic leakage. By preventing plastic waste from entering the oceans, the need for costly cleanup efforts is reduced as they aggregate the waste automatically 24/7 and make the collection of a higher volume much easier than a regular boat or shore-based collection; while also minimizing the long-term environmental, economic, and social impacts associated with ocean pollution.
3. Awareness and Behavioral Change The visibility of the waste that the river barriers stop from leaking into the ocean serves as a powerful tool to raise public awareness about the scale of plastic pollution and encourage responsible waste management practices. This increased awareness can foster behavioral changes at both individual and societal levels, further contributing to the reduction of plastic waste.

Ocean pollution, fueled by plastic leakage from rivers, is a global environmental crisis demanding immediate attention.

River barriers and their strategic placement and management offer an impactful and cost-efficient solution to intercept and prevent plastic waste from entering our oceans. By harnessing the potential of river barriers, we can take significant steps toward combating plastic leakage and protecting the health of our oceans.

The journey at SCS on the use of river barriers is, therefore, only just begun, and you will see many more of these in the future as we identify the next tributaries to target for a cleaner ocean.

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