A Novel Application of Filtration for the Collection of Microplastics in Waterways

Abstract Since their invention, plastics have become ubiquitous in modern societies all around the world, and their impact on the environment has, in recent years, become nearly as well-known. Plastics produced by humans have reached nearly every corner of the world, and throughout their centuries-long lifetimes, plastics continually break down into smaller and smaller particles due to the physical stresses which they are subjected to. These stresses eventually, inevitably, break these plastics down into microplastics –pieces of plastic small enough to be consumed by organisms in bodies of water throughout the globe. These microplastics can very easily bioaccumulate, and have been found everywhere from the Great Lakes to the bloodstreams of humans. The effects of these plastics are poorly understood, however, they have been linked to infertility, halted growth, and a host of other maladies in aquatic organisms. Currently, removal of these plastics has been neglected, with no governmental action to remove them from marine environments, and this project aims to begin prototyping a solution to this issue. A significant percentage of microplastics are found at the surface of waterways, thus trawling in surface waters using an autonomously propelled net is proposed as a way to solve this seemingly intractable issue. By attaching motors and a guidance system to a manta trawl, a device currently used for collecting microorganisms, the process of collecting microplastics in open water can be automated, and thus the work of removing plastics from the environment on a large scale can begin.