This action by The SeaCleaners is carried out in collaboration with the public authorities and associations, while the country has five of the twenty most polluted rivers in the world.
With more than 100,000 kilometers of coastline, aquatic depollution is an important issue for Indonesia and its thousands of islands. Especially since the country has five of the twenty most polluted rivers in the world and that in Asian countries, 75% of the plastic present in the oceans comes from poor waste management. To remedy this evil, the NGO The Sea Cleaners is launching this Monday, March 20, an aquatic depollution program, in collaboration with local, political and associative actors.
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It was in the face of Jakarta’s desire to change the situation that the NGO developed its project. An aid which rests on a depollution boat named Mobula 8. It thus intercepts the waste, before it reaches the ocean. This technological boat remains easy to use, with a crew of locals trained in depollution on board, because the goal is to enable the country to manage plastic pollution independently.
Antoine Iché is the project coordinator, he has been on site for 2 months in Bali for the launch of the operation: “We had the chance to welcome the Minister of Maritime Affairs and Investment, he came to see the Mobula 8. He also asked us if it was possible to build our Mobula 8 in Indonesia. We already have a foot in the stirrup and strong support from this ministry which would allow us to leave our boats to them while providing them with support and follow-up to see these boats operate in Indonesia independently.”
“The more understanding and knowledge we have, the more efficient future collections will be and the more we will be able to share our scientific data”
Yvan Bourgnonthe founder of The Sea Cleaners at franceinfo
In Indonesia, the Mobula 8 will collect microparticles, plastic macro-waste and hydrocarbons and then bring them back to earth. With ten cubic meters of capacity, the boat can even stay at sea all day. “What interests us is to put scientists to be able to also characterize these plastics, because one of the major subjects is still the understanding and knowledge of this pollution” explains Yvan Bourgnon, the founder of The Sea Cleaners.
Its objective is to deal with the lack of statistical data on aquatic pollution, “our scientists often say that they are helpless in the face of this lack, explains Yvan Bourgnon. As we are one of the first major collection initiatives, they are in demand, they want to be present on site to be able to characterize and locate the pollution in order to better understand it”.
After Indonesia, The Sea Cleaners plans to travel to other countries in Asia.