Technological innovations are creating ways to re-use, and in some cases profit from, materials recycled and materials discarded in waterways.

Materials Collected for Recycling

At the end of 2018, a 100-foot long cycling path in the Dutch town of Zwolle was used for the first time. While the length of the path may seem underwhelming, the path was made completely of plastic and according to reports was the equivalent of 500,000 plastic bottle caps or 218,000 plastic cups. The adaptive re-use of plastic for a bicycle path may, by itself, earn environmental plaudits; but it is other aspects of the path that municipalities may want to note. Not only does the pathway provide a possible alternative to the use of plastic, the estimated life cycle of the path is two or three times longer than a “traditional” pathway. When factoring in reports of the modular, pre-fabrication construction possibilities of the plastic pathways, the potential long-term economic savings to a municipality becomes intriguing. For example, a segment of road in need of repair could be removed and replaced with a new, separate piece. A second plastic path was opened in the Dutch Village of Giethoorn has also opened. The “wear and tear” of these pathways will be monitored to see if they do, in fact, last two or three times longer than a traditional pathway. Elsewhere in the Netherlands, a floating park has been opened on a river within Rotterdam. The park itself was created out of recycled plastic, includes areas to serve wildlife and has “traps” built underneath to gather plastic floating in the river. Formed in hexagonal sections, the park can continue to grow as additional plastic is recycled.

Materials Collected in Waterways

Somewhat similar to the “trap” underneath the hexagonal sections, the City of Baltimore has been using “Mr. Trash Wheel” in the inner harbor for nearly 10 years. The wheel, which removes debris using “rotating forks” that pick up the debris and place it on a conveyor belt that moves it into a dumpster, is powered by the river’s current and by solar panels. The dumpsters are then emptied by the City’s department of public works. These are some of the innovative ways municipalities, and companies, are trying to adapt and re-use “garbage.” This trend is worth noting, given recent data that while landfill space worldwide has decreased, there has been increased coverage of plastic waste in waterways throughout the world. The United States Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) has noted that, utilizing 2015 data, nearly 26 percent of all materials discarded after use were recycled, nearly 9 percent were composted and nearly 13 percent were used for combustion energy recovery, with the balance (approximately 52 percent) placed in landfills. In the United States alone, plastics accounted for 13 percent of all waste in 2015, an increase of over 8 percent. Repurposed waste, modular design and increased longevity: perhaps a win-win-win for municipalities.