The SeaCleaners Premieres Design for Trash Eating Sailboat

PARIS, FRANCE一On Jan. 26, SeaCleaners released the design for The Manta, an eco-designed sailboat for collecting large amounts of marine waste.

The boat operates on a renewable energy power supply and a hybrid propulsion system that will allow the boat to operate on its own 75 percent of the time.

“Reducing plastic pollution at the source, through awareness and education, is essential in the long term,” said Yvan Bourgon, president and founder of SeaCleaners in a Feb. 8 email. “But it will take years if not decades before we see the results of this approach. In the meantime, every minute, 17 tons of plastic waste continues to pour into our oceans. The urgency to act is now. That is why we designed the Manta. It is a concrete, pragmatic solution to produce immediate and visible results in the face of this global ecological disaster. We will never say that the Manta alone can solve the problem of marine plastic pollution. But, in this long-term fight, it is essential to do our share, to highlight even the most modest of victories and, in doing so, to awaken consciences. This is the goal of the Manta.”

The Manta is a one-of-a-kind design that will be 100 percent effective at collecting plastic waste at sea, and the waste will then be manually sorted and converted into renewable energy.

The Manta will work in countries with significant marine plastic waste, mainly in South America, Africa, and Asia. Twenty companies are working with five different labs to launch The Manta in 2024.

To learn more about the Manta, see the Sea Cleaners website at theseacleaners.org.