WasteShark makes its UK debut in Devon
4 March 2019, 15:51 | Updated: 4 March 2019, 16:40
Ilfracombe Harbour will soon be the first harbour or waterway in the UK to receive a WasteShark.
Its an aquatic drone designed to clear unwanted debris such as plastics and pollutants from our waterways, before they make their way into the ocean.
The WasteShark is fully sponsored by the WWF, who will use it to collect scientific data from the harbour.
The plastic collected from the WasteShark will be deposited in the Ocean Recovery Project bins at Ilfracombe Harbour, then collected by North Devon Council for recycling.
Its thought it can cary 60 kilograms in one trip and over the course of a year will get rid of 15 tons of waste from our seas.
The device can roam through distances of up to 3 miles (5 kilometres) of water, or for eight hour, before its batteries need recharging.
Like fish, the technique on its robot counterpart, the whale shark swims around with its mouth open to capture rubbish.
