4ocean Shows Off New Pixie Cleaning Drone, Celebrates 30 Million Pounds Of Trash Collected

SEATTLE (Waste Advantage): The latest eye-catcher from the 4ocean folks is a Roomba-like robot for cleaning plastic and other floating trash from waterways. The PixieDrone is built by a French company called The Searial Cleaners and designed for marinas, resorts, docks and public places to collect trash. These Pixies hold about 35 gallons or 132 pounds of plastic, so they’re not the main force behind a recent milestone for 4ocean, tallying 30 million pounds of trash pulled from oceans, rivers and coastlines as of June 27.

The heavy lifting is still being done by more than 200 paid captains and crews in a dozen locations around the world using hands, nets, boats and funding from the sales of bracelets and other 4ocean products. Cleanup areas include Florida, Indonesia and Guatemala. Florida-based 4ocean is a public benefit corporation. So they make money, but only after 1 pound of plastic is collected for every product sold, says Alex Schulze, CEO and cofounder with Andrew Cooper.

The Pixie is about 5 feet long by 4 feet wide and a serious conversation starter. People line up to ask about the device, pilot it around and talk about ocean plastic whenever it’s out on the water, Schulze says. The device sports a video camera and can be remote-controlled or operate autonomously, equipped with Lidar technology to avoid obstacles. The drones are being built for 4ocean to sell to marinas and other users. They were introduced a couple-few months ago and there are about a dozen in the wild. “Our goal is to be able to be leverage these machines to get them into different areas around the states and neighboring countries,” he says.

Courtesy: www.wasteadvantagemag.com