This Trash Machine is Cleaning up Ocean Garbage

On the Baltimore Inner Harbor, sits a machine that is named Mr. Trash Wheel that is helping pull debris out of the water before it reaches farther into the ocean.

Mr. Trash Wheel is a machine imagined by John Kellet, a sailor and engineer that had worked on the harbor for years.

After seen trash pass by him every day, John approached the city with a proposal to solve the problem.  He built and installed the first pilot trash wheel in 2008.  The initial design had a few flaws like but it was still effective enough for the Waterfront Partnership of Baltimore to take notice.

The Waterfront Partnership of Baltimore is a non-profit that works on the harbor and with the initial installation of the trash wheel they saw a reduction in the trash in the harbor.

Kellet realized that he would need a bigger wheel with more capacity.  The initial pilot could only fill one dumpster without having to stop operation.  Once the dumpster was full, it had to be emptied and returned before the wheel could resume operation.

The non-profit approached Kellet and offered to get the funds for a bigger trash wheel.  The new trash wheel was installed at the end of the Jones River and has now collected over 1 million pounds of trash since 2014.

How Does The Trash Wheel Work?

Source: Nation Geographic, JASON TREAT AND EVE CONANT, NGM STAFF. NGM MAPS.<BR>ART: BRUCE MORSER SOURCES: JOHN KELLETT, CLEARWATER MILLS; WATERFRONT PARTNERSHIP OF BALTIMORE

The trash wheel works by using power from solar panels and for the current on the Jones Falls Rivers to turn a water wheel that powers a conveyer belt.  

Contamination booms that float on the surface of the water, direct trash towards the conveyor belt.

The Conveyor belt then leads to a dumpster that is waiting on its platform. 

The Trash Wheel is a relatively simple machine that is highly effective at collecting trash. 

What Trash Gets Collected?

Kellet has been keeping track of the garbage that has been pulled out of the water to help support environmental legislation.

So far, Kellet states that over nine million cigarette butts and 300,000 plastic bags have been pulled from the Baltimore Harbor.

Additionally, the machine pulls 14,000 styrofoam container a month from the harbor.

During rainstorms, the trash increases even more. During one storm in June of 2016, 12 dumpsters were filled in one day. On average, the Trash Wheel collects between 70 and 100 dumpsters worth of trash per year. ( National Geographic)

The Future For Trash Wheels

The trash wheel has generated a lot of attention and thanks to a collective effort of individuals and organizations; funding has been secured for another trash wheel.  The new trash wheel which is being called Professor Trash Wheel will be located on a different section of the Inner Harbor.

Kellet has started a construction company that will build these wheels all around the world.  Surveys for new trash wheel sites have already been done in Lombok, Indonesia, Panama City, Rio De Janeiro, Honolulu, Milwaukee, Atlanta, and Denver.

Conclusion

Keeping our oceans cleans from trash is one of the biggest problems we are currently facing in waste management. 

With clever inventions like the trash wheel, the amount of trash that makes it to the open ocean can be dramatically reduced.  Projects like these could also help clean coastlines and heavily trafficked areas. 

Original Story on National Geographic