THIR TY EIGHT FEA TURE


Drones are increasingly being used worldwide to assess the rising levels of plastic pollution in our oceans. A problem that the industry is at the forefront of providing solutions for.


PLASTIC TIDE drone technology


Words | Sarah Whittaker, Dronebelow.com Photography | theplastictide.com


T


he Plastic Tide, a UK-based charity whose mission it is to clean up our beaches using the potential of new drone technology is appealing to the public to become citizen scientists. Peter Kohler, founder and director of The Plastic Tide, pressed home how serious the problem


is, saying, “Marine creatures die each year through starvation due to eating plastic that stays in their stomach making them feel full. “It is estimated that we eat up to


understand where the plastics and other marine litter come from but also to work out what kinds of materials make up the detritus, and also how much. Kohler is enthusiastic about the potential for public


PLASTIC TIDE


11,000 pieces of microplastics a year, and if nothing is done to tackle the issue of plastic in our oceans, it’s estimated that there will be 80m metric tonnes of plastic going in to the sea a year by 2025. “ So far, The Plastic Tide have used aerial photos taken using drones to survey UK shores ranging as far north as the Isle of Mull in Scotland and as far south as west Cornwall searching for plastic pollution. Now along with the British Science Association they


are appealing to the public to help tag over 250,000 images marking out types and locations of separate pieces of litter. the British science Association it says by developing software that


but will help to


TIDE IS GROWING 8 million metric tonnes of plastic a year. If nothing is done now.


THIS TIDE DOES NOT RECEDE


Microplastics, which could take hundreds of thousands of years to break down.


involvement in the project, saying, “The good thing, though, is everyone has the opportunity to be part of the solution. Helping identify rubbish on the Plastic Tide site will be one invaluable way of helping to keep our beaches clean.” The Plastic Tide has previously carried out similar projects both in the USA and Australia. In Australia they partnered with


two Australian drone pilots, Martin Leahy of Australian UAV and Jackie Dujmovic will be from Hover UAV. In a successful beach clean up late last year at Port Kembla, south of the coastal city of Sydney, nearly 400 drove survey images were used to


identify 85 kilograms of waste. Earlier this year, in America a collaboration with Digital Drift LLC in New Jersey, drones helped researchers to collect data and analyse rates of accumulation as well as sizes and types of beach pollution. | dronebelow.com | theplastictidecom


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46