“Bubble Barrier” Helping Tackle Canal Plastic “氣泡屏障”幫助處理運河塑料垃圾

A Dutch start-up has teamed up with the municipality of Amsterdam and the regional water authority to launch a project called the Great Bubble Barrier. The aim is to help remove plastic from the citys waterways.

The barrier is a perforated tube that was placed on the bottom of a canal or river. Compressors pump air through the holes， creating bubbles that float the waste.

The tube is placed diagonally to allow the natural current to move the waste to one side of the canal or river， where its caught by a floating platform.

A wall of bubbles can intercept plastic in waterways without interfering with boats and marine wildlife. Tests of a prototype in the River IJssel in the Netherlands found it stopped 86% of plastic waste on average.

Each year， Amsterdams garbage boats remove around 42，000 kg of plastic waste from the citys waterways. But the boats can only pick up the plastic waste on the surface. They also miss some smaller pieces.

The company hoped the barrier will capture waste deeper in the water as well as smaller pieces of plastic the garbage boats cant pick up.

Each year， at least 8 million tons of plastic ends up in the ocean—roughly one garbage truckload every minute.

Another Dutch group has also launched a project to collect surface-level river waste using floating barriers.

Francis Zoet is the technical director of the Great Bubble Barrier project. She said， “We support every initiative that is focused on reducing the plastic in the ocean.”

一家荷蘭初創公司與阿姆斯特丹市政府和該市的水務局合作，推出“大氣泡屏障”項目，目的是幫助清理該城市河道中的塑料垃圾。

這個“屏障”就是鋪設在運河或河流底部的多孔管道。壓縮機通過這些孔向管道注入空氣，形成“氣泡屏障”，使運河或河流底部的垃圾漂浮起來。

管道以一定的角度鋪設，因此，水流可以將垃圾推送到運河或河流的一側，在那里通過浮動平臺將垃圾收集起來。

“氣泡屏障”能捕獲河道中的塑料垃圾，但不會妨礙船只和水生物。此前該公司在荷蘭的艾瑟爾河上對模型進行了測試，發現該模型平均可捕獲86%的塑料垃圾。

阿姆斯特丹的垃圾收集船每年能從該市的河道中收集約42噸的塑料垃圾。但是，這些船只能收集河道表面的塑料垃圾，它們也捕獲不到一些小塊的塑料垃圾。

該公司希望這種屏障能捕獲垃圾收集船無法捕獲的河道深處的垃圾和較小的塑料垃圾顆粒。

每年至少有800萬噸塑料垃圾進入海洋，這相當于每分鐘都有一輛裝滿塑料的垃圾車向海中傾倒垃圾。

另一家荷蘭機構也啟動了使用浮動屏障收集河道表面垃圾的項目。

弗朗西斯·佐特是“大氣泡屏障”項目的技術總監。她說：“我們支持各種旨在減少海洋塑料垃圾的舉措?！?/p>

launch /l??nt?/ v. 發起，發動

pump /p?mp/ v. 用泵輸送

The heart pumps blood around the body.

diagonally /da?'?ɡ?n?li/ adv. 對角線地;斜地

intercept /'?nt?'sept/ v. 攔截;攔阻

Reporters intercepted him as he tried to leave the hotel.

interfere /'?nt?'f??（r）/ v. 妨礙;干擾

She never allows her personal feelings to interfere with her work.

capture /'k?pt??（r）/ v. 捕獲

The animals are captured in nets and sold to local zoos.

initiative /?'n???t?v/ n. 對策;舉措