© All in on Green / Municipality of Aarhus The SeaProtectorOne robot is installed at the river mouth in Aarhus, where the river flows into the harbour, removing rubbish before it enters the sea.
PREVENTING OCEAN WASTE
Many tonnes of waste flow into the sea from the world's rivers. A Danish robot has been developed to minimise this pollution, enabling riverside cities can do more to prevent huge amounts of waste from ending up in the seas and oceans. This has been demonstrated in the City of Aarhus in Denmark, where the robot SeaProtectorOne, developed by the company All In On Green, collected over 100,000 unique pieces of waste from the city's river in 20 months.
IDENTIFYING POLLUTION SOURCES
The Municipality of Aarhus first engaged in this project by offering the site at the river mouth as a "test bed" for the robot in its early stages. After the trial period, a surprising amount of waste - especially plastic - was removed by the robot. In 2023, the municipality began actively using the robot as part of the municipal city-cleaning programme. Besides tidying the river, the robot provides data and sometimes also enables the municipality to identify the source of pollution, allowing waste management systems to be adapted.
PROTECTING SEA LIFE
The technology shows how much pollution the city was - and no longer is - sending directly into the marine environment, including large amounts of plastic. Having already removed more than 100,000 unique pieces of garbage from the river, this project supports efforts to improve environmental care and protect sea life. At the same time, the collaboration between the municipality and local inventors, engineers, and pioneers supports innovation and the generation of new ideas and solutions as well as local economies.
