Beach Cleaning Robots

The consequences of the excessive rise in  marine pollution are dire. Marine pollution, particularly, plastic pollutants pose threats to marine life. It is common for marine animals and wildlife to find themselves entangled within plastic debris, ingest it, or suffer from its toxic effects. Furthermore, most animals die of starvation after believing that they are full from eating plastic, showing the harmful effects of plastic in beaches and oceans.  

Among the most vulnerable victims of plastic pollutants are sea turtles. Research indicates that more than half of sea turtles have ingested plastics and even small quantities of injected plastics can lead to an increased risk of death. And the consequences of this have been damaging. The ingestion of plastic pollutants not only lead to starvation but also decrease reproduction rates by altering the temperature of sand where incubation occurs. With this in mind, as an attempt to prevent the spread of more plastics in oceans, beach cleaning robots were made.

Beach cleanups are often done by a group of volunteers, but how effective is this? In 2022, the BEBOT and a group of volunteers picked up litter following 4th of July celebrations at Nevada Beach. This group of participants was asked to collect as much litter as they could find in a designated area of the beach. The BEBOT then covered the same area of the beach. Primarily, the group of volunteers had collected 30 small pieces of trash. The BEBOT, however, collected 300 small pieces of trash. The test revealed the capability of the BEBOT to pick up more trash than meets the eye. The BEBOT screens sand, rakes seaweed, levels out expanses of beach, and lifts and carries loads. It is able to collect waste below the surface of the sand.  “We were finding almost ten times the amount of trash [was] picked up by the robot than our volunteers picked up in the exact same location, so it just means that out of sight should not mean out of mind because just below the sand is a bunch more trash.” said Jesse Patterson, the chief strategy officer for Keep Tahoe Blue. 

The proliferation of marine pollutants have been detrimental to marine ecosystems and we are the main cause of this. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)  stated that basically 100% of plastics created by humans are still in existence.  Our plastic production, which has been increasing every year, ends up in oceans and beaches causing harm to these ecosystems. Although the best option would be to reduce our plastic production, beach cleaning robots act to mitigate this issue. 

Works Cited

United Nations Environment Programme, https://www.unep.org/interactives/beat-plastic-pollution/?gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQjw5cOwBhCiARIsAJ5njuYYO-D6Ct3i2DCH7JQ47Ybt82xD2K1gS13eobxXoy4dZVL_bs4Q3UoaAm4GEALw_wcB. Accessed 7 April 2024.

“Beach Cleanups.” MarineBio Conservation Society, https://www.marinebio.org/conservation/ocean-dumping/beach-cleanups/. Accessed 7 April 2024.

“BEBOT: Tahoe's Beach-Cleaning Robot.” Keep Tahoe Blue, https://www.keeptahoeblue.org/combat-pollution/beach-cleaning-robot/. Accessed 7 April 2024.

“BeBot | The beach cleaning robot.” The Searial Cleaners, https://searial-cleaners.com/our-cleaners/bebot-the-beach-cleaner/. Accessed 7 April 2024.

Garcia, Dominic. “Meet BEBOT, the beach-cleaning robot that helps keep Tahoe blue.” CBS News, 12 July 2023, https://www.cbsnews.com/sacramento/news/meet-bebot-the-beach-cleaning-robot-lake-tahoe/. Accessed 7 April 2024.

“Marine plastic pollution - resource | IUCN.” International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), https://www.iucn.org/resources/issues-brief/marine-plastic-pollution. Accessed 7 April 2024.

“Plastic pollution in the ocean: data, facts, consequences.” Ocean Literacy Portal, 9 May 2022, https://oceanliteracy.unesco.org/plastic-pollution-ocean/. Accessed 7 April 2024.