QCOSTARICA – Costa Rica will have a system called “Interceptor” that will eliminate floating and suspended waste from the upper layer of its waters, government authorities announced on Tuesday during a commemoration of World Oceans Day, whose motto is “Mares limpios, mares resilientes” (Clean seas, seas resilient).
Complying with all the sanitary protocols – the activity was held at Casa Presidencial with the participation of President Carlos Alvarado; the Minister of Environment and Energy (MINAE), Andrea Meza; the Deputy Minister of Water and Seas, Haydée Rodríguez, the Ambassador of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Costa Rica, Christine Pirenne and the representative of the organization The Ocean Cleanup, Frank Willem Behrens.
At the event, a cooperation agreement was signed between MINAE and The Ocean Cleanup organization – based in the Netherlands – that will allow the exchange of technical knowledge of experts on river plastic waste and possible extraction methods. In addition, it will coordinate with the different sectors –including coastal communities- the development of cleaning technologies, waste management and their use.
The Ocean Cleanup – a non-profit organization that develops advanced technologies to eliminate plastic from the world’s oceans- has worked on a numerical model of global emission of plastic to the ocean transported by rivers, which indicates that 1,000 rivers are responsible for 80 % of the global influx of plastic, among which one of them is precisely the Grande de Tárcoles River.
The Interceptor that is planned to be installed in Tárcoles can store up to 50 m³ of waste before having to empty it and works in stages: barrier, conveyor belt, shuttle, waste containers, emptying and recycling.
