Floating Robot for Eliminating Debris (FRED) for Cleansing t

PROBLEM. Clear Blue Sea is committed to cleansing marine environments from plastic pollution. In the Caribbean, “an estimated 322,745 tons of plastic goes uncollected each year” (World Bank) and financial damage to marine ecosystems is estimated at $13B (Wang 2016).

 SOLUTION. Clear Blue Sea proposes to customize our FRED solution for the Caribbean to cleanup plastic waste, including a STEAM Internship Program to teach younger generations how they can cleanup plastic waste in their community waters.  

CHANGING LIVES. We will mentor local STEAM student interns in building and deploying FREDs for plastic cleanup in diverse Caribbean environments. This will spread awareness of ocean plastic and our FRED solution through community demonstrations, social media, and TV coverage. Our prior interns have leveraged their Clear Blue Sea work to secure meaningful STEAM jobs. Clear Blue Sea’s STEAM internships on ocean conservancy solutions benefit the environment, economy, and society.

SCALE OF THE PROBLEM. USAID states that "Latin American and Caribbean nations produce 424,000 tons of waste daily”, and less than 25 percent is processed into regulated sanitary landfills (UNEP, 2005). While the global prevalence and damage of marine debris are increasingly recognized, plastic pollution has been understudied in the Caribbean (Bravo et al, 2009). Most of their marine debris is from the shoreline and recreational activities, with plastic beverage bottles being 20% of total litter (UNEP Report 2005). Plastic and paper bags comprise 17% percent of marine litter, with caps and lids at 11%; utensils, cups, and plates at 10%; cigarettes at 8%; and glass bottles at 8% (CEP 2014). 

PEOPLE AFFECTED. All Caribbean people are both the main cause of this marine pollution, but are also the best solution for remediating their local marine environments. Plastic waste continues to grow every year. While plastic degrades into macro-plastics, microplastics, and nano plastics, it never biodegrades. The entire Caribbean population is affected directly or indirectly by marine plastic debris due to its damage to the environment; tourism and fishing economies; and quality of life for island communities.

PEOPLE SERVED. Clear Blue Sea’s FRED solution, implemented through STEAM internship projects, will benefit Caribbean communities by returning natural environment to prior beauty, improving economic conditions, and increasing STEAM educational resources for future careers of their youth. 

LOCAL NEEDS and PARTICIPATION. We will collaborate with local governments, NGOs, schools, and marine-based companies to understand their views on marine plastic pollution and solutions. We will collaborate with local representatives to prepare project plans addressing marine environments affected by plastic debris, including customized FREDs designed for specific cleanup required. Once approved, we will form STEAM internship teams which we will support, and establish a local oversight group to track progress, resolve issues, and ensure Clear Blue Sea compliance with our commitment.

MEETING LOCAL NEEDS FOR PLASTIC CLEANUP. Clear Blue Sea’s FRED solution will demonstrate to Caribbean communities that they have the technical and management capabilities to cleanup marine plastic pollution in their local environs. In addition to environmental cleanup and improved marine economies, our solution addresses social needs for Caribbean youth to gain STEAM experience needed for technical careers to benefit their lives and their countries.

HOW OUR SOLUTION WORKS. Our Floating Robot for Eliminating Debris (FRED) is a catamaran-based unmanned marine robot which is powered by solar energy; travels slowly through the waters to collect debris using a conveyor belt system; and stores captured plastic pollution for sustainable recycling. FRED includes embedded sensors for navigation, remote control, and capture of scientific and environmental data for research purposes. We implement a drone flight control program, with onboard cameras that enable FRED operators to navigate FRED via remote control or autonomous missions. We will sustainably dispose of FRED-collected marine plastic through sorting, processing, and delivering it to local sustainable recycling organizations.

PROCESSES AND TECHNOLOGIES. FRED’s key technologies include both proven commercial components and well as customized capabilities required for marine debris cleanup. Clear Blue Sea’s processes include performing a multi-phase, multilateral, community-based endeavor to address local plastic pollution cleanup needs. We teach STEAM students collaborative teamwork, project management, and systems engineering – knowledge and methods critical to the success of STEAM-based ocean cleanup initiatives.

PRODUCTS AND SERVICES BENEFITTING COMMUNITIES. By delivering FREDs we can cleanup plastic pollution, regain the natural beauty of marine environments, and improve marine-based economies. By delivering STEAM-based internship projects to design and build custom FREDs for local communities, Clear Blue Sea can change the lives of local youth by providing them with a meaningful, real-world STEAM experience which they can leverage throughout their careers to enrich their lives and contribute to meaningful solutions to environmental crises.     

Our services include conducting bi-weekly marine debris cleanup missions using a fleet of 3 FREDs in local “hot spots” identified by local debris studies, especially after heavy rains. For example, we estimate that by cleaning San Diego Bay using two 16-foot FREDs, we can remove 6000 pounds of plastic during each mission.

In addition to collecting marine plastic pollution, FRED will collect critical environmental and oceanographic data, via sensors, which will be provided to the public for use by scientists, regulatory agencies, and educational organizations.   

FRED as a “product” would remain with the local communities for their continued plastic debris cleanup operations, with Clear Blue Sea providing mentoring and support services as needed in the future. The estimated materials cost of a basic FRED model ranging from 6 feet to 16 feet in length is between $10K - $50K, depending on cleanup requirements, operational constraints, and complexity of the customized FRED design.  

FRED’s key technologies include both proven commercial components and well as customized capabilities required for marine debris cleanup. Our Floating Robot for Eliminating Debris (FRED) is a catamaran-based unmanned marine robot which is powered by solar energy; travels slowly through the waters to collect debris using a conveyor belt system; and stores captured plastic pollution for sustainable recycling. FRED includes embedded sensors for navigation, remote control, and capture of scientific and environmental data for research purposes. We implement a drone flight control program, with onboard cameras that enable FRED operators to navigate FRED via remote control or autonomous missions.

By delivering STEAM-based internship projects to design and build custom FREDs for local communities, Clear Blue Sea can change the lives of local youth by providing them with a meaningful, real-world STEAM experience which they can leverage throughout their careers to enrich their lives and contribute to meaningful solutions to environmental crises.

2020 Key Planned Goals and Strategies

• Place “simplified” FRED in public domain

• Complete/demo FRED Jr. throughout the year

• Complete detailed design of 50-foot FRED

• Perform extensive outreach pre-grant submittals

• Secure $2M for 2 years of staffed operations

Key Risks and Mitigations

• Inadequate funding will slow FRED development

• Lack of core staff will inhibit organizational progress

• Insufficient media followers will limit fundraising

Key Success Factors to Overcoming                    Current Challenges  

• Minimal direct funding; extensive in-kind funding

• Limited grant-writing; unsolicited grants received

• Limited prior experience; innovative and collaborative student internship teams

• No full-time staff; passionate volunteers

• Limited hierarchy; interns mentored in project manager roles

Our plan would be adjusted to meet local requirements and areas of operations, it would be based upon the following template. 

Identification of areas of operations and evaluation of resources and existing infrastructure; both locally and regionally availability of supplies and sustainable recycling, reuse, and destruction of collected plastic waste. Start teambuilding between local team members and Clear blue sea team. 

Start local outreach through the identification and evaluation of community STEAM capabilities and needs. 

Finalize Fred’s operational requirements and purchase materials for onsite manufacturing. Estimated cost of a Basic model of Fred Ranging from 6-16ft is 10-50 thousand USD dependent on the operational payload.

Begin training/operations on a sustainable scale. Shift if needed to the next area of opportunity starting the operational process over.  

We are curently staffed with part time 10 vollenters and 30 interens.

Partnerships & Collaborations

Profit Allocation – 12 companies

Social Media Support – 15 companies

Science Collaboration – Scripps, MIT, USD  

Engineering Advising –  Adv. Batteries, Robotics

Non-Profits – e.g., Ocean Discovery Institute, 

Government – e.g., EPA, NOAA, Port of SD 

IDB Group can help through funding and Networking in an effort to help Clear Blue Sea provide a cost effective soulution to plastic as while as in the devlopment of a skilled workforce through Clear Blue Sea's STEAM outreach and education program. 

Any and all who are intrested in helping to devlope solution to ocean plastic.