Every minute, the equivalent of one garbage truck of plastic enters our oceans. Scientists warn that by 2040, plastic waste in our seas could triple, threatening marine life and potentially our own health. Recent studies have found microplastics in human blood, breastmilk, and vital organs, raising serious concerns about long-term health effects.
The hidden depths of the plastic problem
The problem runs deeper than what we see on the surface – literally. Much of this plastic sinks to the seabed, forming underwater garbage patches hidden from view. In places like Venice’s historic canals and lagoons, old tyres, fishing nets, and plastic crates are accumulating in alarming quantities, slowly breaking down into harmful microplastics.
Cleaning up underwater litter is no easy task. Professional divers working in murky waters face significant risks, and their operations are costly, while dredging the seafloor – another common method – can severely damage fragile marine ecosystems, often causing more harm than good.
A high-tech approach
That’s where Maelstrom comes in. This innovative European project has tested smarter solutions to the growing plastic crisis.
Euronews joined researchers from Italy’s CNR-ISMAR Institute of Marine Sciences as they used advanced sonar technology to map underwater plastic hotspots in Venice’s Grand Canal.
These detailed maps are a crucial first step towards the semi-automated removal of large debris from coastal waters. The Maelstrom project has developed a sophisticated robot capable of operating at depths of up to 20 metres, precisely extracting large waste items while leaving marine life undisturbed.
The robotic platform combines AI expertise from Tecnalia (Spain) with advanced mechanics from CNRS-LIRMM (France). During public demonstrations in Venice, the robot successfully removed tyres, nets, and even aluminium sheets, proving its effectiveness in real-world conditions.
“It is very important to have this kind of technology, not only here in Venice but in coastal areas and port cities in general,” explains Dr Fantina Madricardo, coordinator of the Maelstrom project. “A lot of waste is abandoned or lost near cities and ports – it’s difficult to see and even harder to recover. If it is hazardous, sending divers down can be dangerous. A robot can make the process faster and safer.”
A curtain of bubbles
Rivers carry plastic waste from inland cities all the way to the sea, making ocean pollution everyone’s problem. That’s why the coastal town of Vila do Conde in northern Portugal decided to join forces with scientists from the Maelstrom project to install an innovative solution: a “bubble barrier” in the Ave River. This relatively simple system creates a curtain of air bubbles, trapping plastic waste before it can reach the Atlantic Ocean while allowing fish and boats to pass through safely. Scientists from the University of Porto’s Interdisciplinary Centre of Marine and Environmental Research (CIIMAR) are now analysing the bubble barrier’s efficiency and its impact on the estuary’s ecosystem.
“We collect all kinds of waste and a lot of it is plastic. And we study what we find, so we know the sources, where the garbage is coming from,” says Isabel Sousa Pinto, Professor at FCUP and Coastal Biodiversity Group Leader at CIIMAR, University of Porto. “Then we do an assessment of the ecosystem – is it getting better? We know that it is getting less garbage, but we need more time before the entire ecosystem recovers and before we can say whether it got better because of this bubble barrier that we are still studying.”
The town helped design the system, provided funding, and brought together all the key stakeholders to make it happen, including the port authority, the captaincy, the Portuguese Environment Agency, the regional waste management association, and the Environmental Monitoring and Interpretation Centre, which conducts public outreach and awareness campaigns.
The key to lasting change
The Maelstrom team emphasises that cleaning up plastic waste is only part of the solution. Preventing plastic from entering the environment in the first place could be even more crucial. The researchers are collaborating with industries to reduce plastic waste at its source and develop more sustainable practices. Through beach cleanup campaigns and educational programmes, they are also empowering local communities to take action in protecting our oceans. According to CIIMAR researcher Luís R. Vieira, tackling marine litter isn’t just about using new technology to clean it up, it takes shared effort to raise awareness, take responsibility, and prevent waste from reaching the ocean in the first place. Only then can we hope for a future where our oceans are no longer burdened by plastic waste.
