The Ocean Cleanup’s watercraft to clean up Malaysia’s river
If you live in Klang Valley, or often drop by for its plethora of attractions and food haunts, chances are that you’ve seen Klang River, or Sungai Klang, in person. If not, you’ve probably heard of it, as this prominent river with 11 tributaries that passes through Kuala Lumpur and Selangor has become an attraction of sorts – as well as an unfortunate ground for waste disposal.
There has been significant efforts to keep this river spick and span, as part of the Selangor Maritime Gateway’s initiative to clean up the polluted rivers by using a “vacuum” watercraft invented by The Ocean Cleanup – a non-profit organisation from Netherlands, according to a November 2019 report by The Star.
Coldplay to sponsor new watercraft for ocean clean-up efforts
This year, The Ocean Cleanup is sending more watercrafts to help clean up rivers across the globe. One of the watercrafts will make its first stop at our Sugai Klang sometime around mid-2021. The initiative is sponsored by British band, Coldplay, which is also known for their support for environmental initiatives. They also made an announcement on their Facebook page on 25th March 2021.
Image credit: Coldplay
The watercrafts will clean up 1,000 rivers around the world and will likely pick up a bulk of plastic waste that’s affecting wildlife and ecosystems before the pollution reaches the ocean. Other watercrafts will be deployed in countries such as Indonesia, Vietnam, the US, Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Thailand and more.
Image credit: The Ocean Cleanup
The Ocean Cleanup watercraft to tackle 100 tonnes of garbage a day
Image credit: The Ocean Cleanup
According to Bernama, the watercraft, called Interceptor 005 or Neon Moon 1, aims to collect over 100 tonnes of garbage a day. In the same report, it was stated that Neon Moon 1 is built in Malaysia by Finnish firm, Konecranes at their MHE-Demag facility located in Klang.
A previous version of the watercraft, Interceptor 004.
Image credit: The Ocean Cleanup
While no exact river has been named in the clean-up efforts, Klang River has been listed among one of the 50 most polluted rivers in the world according to The Ocean Cleanup, and reported by Free Malaysia Today. Still it is important to note that the Klang River, which already has 1 “vacuum” watercraft stationed there, has been seeing better days during the pandemic, with extracted waste from the river reducing by an impressive 43% during the early days of the Movement Control Order, as reported by Malay Mail.
Coldplay sponsors garbage-collecting watercraft in Malaysia and other countries
As nature gems – ranging from wildlife and fauna, to mountains to waterfalls – is something we often tout as being part of Malaysia’s charm, it seems necessary to be looking out for our rivers which are part of the ecosystem too.
We applaud The Ocean Cleanup, and Coldplay for sponsoring the watercraft to be deployed in countries across the globe including Malaysia, to help rid rivers of waste.
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Cover image adapted from: The Ocean Cleanup and The Ocean Cleanup
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