WOSUP

Finding and processing the location and size of waste accumulations.

The WOSUP project focuses on the removal of garbage from the oceans, more precisely on the removal of plastic and its derivatives, since it lists software-based mechanisms to enhance and leverage the discovery and processing of the location and size of waste accumulations, so that later, specialized vessels are notified to collect the plastic, providing them with the location, size and best route to optimize the vessel’s journey, taking into account the dimensions of waste it can carry.

One of the differentiating factors of this project is the ability of the platform to integrate any type of data sources. In this case satellite and drone images will be used, however, the platform will be built with future integrations in mind, and its contact interfaces with the data sources are completely domain or application case agnostic.

The development of this project is guided by the targets set in the UN Sustainable Development Indicators, helping communities to become more environmentally friendly and to play a leading role in the ocean ecosystem.

The impact is the construction of algorithms for the detection of types of plastics in the oceans and the generation of operational reports and optimised collection routes, promoting the rapid and serial collection of waste for subsequent reuse or recycling, and it is precisely in this field that there is a contribution to increasing the efficiency of resources linked to companies in the maritime sector , as stated in the application notice. In other words, efficiency is achieved through the optimisation of waste collection routes by companies whose core activity is waste collection, with the optimisation resulting from greater clarity regarding the location of large concentrations of waste, their size and even categorisation of the type of waste, allowing these companies to define in advance what type of vessel they need to collect the waste they spot and the best route to collect the largest possible volume of waste, always bearing in mind that waste is easily "moved around" due to ocean currents.

Project funded by Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway, through EEA Grants