On Thursday 17 September, Marine Recycling Cluster invited to a demonstration day in Fiskebøl, Vesterålen. The purpose was to showcase the services and products they have developed on marine litter solutions. From mapping and cleaning up in the beach zone with drones and systematic field work, to surface trawling in river outlets – marine litter is a wide problem, and the solutions must be thereafter.
Handelens Miljøfond – Norway’s largest private environmental fund, as well as the authorities showed great interest in the solutions. Ten participants from the environmental fund, as well as a number of local and national politicians, school classes and other curious people attended the event.
– Our focus has always been on developing efficient solutions on marine litter. Our companies has the experience and personnel to make this happen, and we turn words into action via smart technology and better methods. It is a real pleasure to get where we are today, says cluster manager Børge Bentsen.
Innovations in green tech
LoVeMar presented its self-developed surface trawl (sweeper) that can be used in the sea, near river mouths or where the ocean currents have collected liquid waste together.
Both Innovation Norway and Handelens Miljøfond have contributed to fund the development of the products, which have been through several stages.
– The demonstration day is an opportunity to finally showcase the specific solutions we have developed. By demonstrating equipment, we also get to show the entire value chain: from mapping and registering the marine litter by the help of drones and field work, to cleaning up the beach zone and sea with our Marine Debris Sweeper, says organizer and chairman of LoVeMar, Terje Olav Hansen.
MRC member and knowledge company Salt Lofoten was a co-organizer in Fiskebølvika. They have an ongoing project with MRC members Akvaplan-Niva and Andøya Space Center to streamline the mapping of marine waste, by combining satellite, drone and field work. Akvaplan-niva demonstrated an unmanned glider (sea-going drone) that uses new technology and enables the collection and analysis of large amounts of data in a cost-effective way.
To contribute to the mapping and planning of beach cleaning, the Center for Oil Spill Preparedness and Marine Environment (SOMM) has developed a Cleanup app which was also demonstrated at the event.
Floating Conveyer, developed by LoVeMar 
SALT Lofoten demonstrating their MAP method for beach litter registration 
Rasmus Hansson, head of Handelens Miljøfond 
LoVeMar demonstrating their Marine Debris Sweeper 
Inside the Marine Debris Sweeper 
HeliTeam transporting the beach litter 
head of LoVeMar, Michal Reinholdtsen 
Akvaplan-Niva demonstrating their Seaglider, produced by Konsberg Maritime AS 
Marine Debris Sweeper