Vuilvanger
PLASTIC COLLECTOR ON THE RIVER SCHELDT (test site)
DEME Environmental Contractors (DEC), the environmental specialists of DEME, is installing a plastic collector on the river Scheldt on behalf of the Vlaamse Waterweg. A combination of a fixed and mobile installation will be tested for a year to collect waste from the water.
After a call from the Vlaamse Waterweg to companies to submit an innovative proposal, DEME proposed a project for collecting waste by the Temse-Bornem Scheldt bridges. The DEME test set-up consists of a fixed installation that passively collects floating and suspended waste from the water and a mobile system that actively collects bigger pieces of waste.
The test phase, that will start in February 2020, is being carried out in cooperation with the University of Antwerp and the Instituut voor Natuur- en Bosbeheer.
The mobile installation consists of a smart detection system, a work boat that can navigate autonomously and a charging point. Floating waste is detected using artificial intelligence by smart cameras that are installed on the old Temse bridge.
An autonomously navigating work boat, the “Marine Litter Hunter” intercepts waste and pushes it to a collection pontoon. The waste is collected in the collection pontoon, where a crane equipped with a grab transfers the waste into a container. When the container is full, the work boat takes this autonomously to the docking station, where it is unloaded by a transfer crane on the quay. The “Marine Litter Hunter” is fully CO2-neutral and moors autonomously at the docking station to charge.
In addition to the mobile plastic collector, DEME will also test a fixed installation downstream of the Temse bridge to collect floating and suspended waste. The installation will consist of a V-shaped fyke with a collection pontoon.