Thailand’s Department of Marine and Coastal Resources has recently received 20 floating trash collectors from a private company to be used in estuaries and tributaries in 13 provinces to scoop up trash, especially plastic waste, before it flows into the sea.

Thanks to the Siam Cement Group, the floating trash collectors will be installed in Phetchaburi, Rayong, Samut Songkhram, Nakhon Si Thammarat, Phang-nga, Phuket and eight other coastal provinces.

Officials of the Department of Marine and Coastal Resources will supervise the operation of the devices in coordination with SCG staff.

Mr. Cholanat Yanaranop, managing director of SCG’s chemical business, said that the company will monitor the operation of the devices and will explore whether the collected trash can be recycled.

He also disclosed that the company was working on developing a solar-powered trash collecting floating robot, to be used in still waters which are difficult to access, with the application of ML (machine learning) and IOT (internet of things) to increase the efficiency of the robot. They are expected to be put on trial at the end of this year.

Earlier, the department and SCG jointly developed a floating trash collection system and put it on trial in the estuaries in Rayong and Samut Sakhon provinces.

It was discovered that each device could collect 7-8kgs of trash, most of it plastic, per day.