VITO, River Cleanup, and VLIZ tackle pollution of the Scheldt together in a European pilot project
The Flanders Marine Institute (VLIZ), VITO, and River Cleanup joined forces with INSPIRE, a European pilot project that tackles plastic pollution in rivers in an innovative way. Today, they presented the first results in their test zone, on the banks of the Scheldt in Temse.
Plastic waste in the ocean is a growing problem. It is estimated that the ocean contains around 150 million tonnes of plastic. Rivers play a significant role in transporting plastic to the seas and the ocean. Europe wants to restore the ocean and other water bodies by 2030. The INSPIRE project takes a holistic approach by combining research, innovation, citizen participation, and investments in sustainable technologies. In addition to the Scheldt, it focuses on five other major European rivers that serve as test zones: the Po, Rhine, Douro, Kamniška Bistrica, and the Danube.
For four years, 25 European partners and one partner from Thailand join forces in the INSPIRE consortium. The European Commission is financing the project with 10 million euros. Together, they are testing twenty innovative technologies and solutions, such as smart cameras and drones, to detect and drastically reduce the amount of macro and microplastics in rivers. After all, the initiative focuses on detecting, collecting, and preventing waste and implements this holistic approach simultaneously on a large scale in several rivers. A first of its kind! Concrete solutions for a cleaner future – with the ultimate goal: protecting rivers for future generations.
Belgian expertise detects and avoids river waste
With the Flanders Marine Institute (VLIZ), VITO, and River Cleanup, three Belgian partners are involved in INSPIRE. VLIZ acts as project coordinator, reports to the European Commission, and quantifies the efficiency of the actions taken to reduce the amount of plastic in the environment. Research institute VITO maps the flow and accumulation of plastic using cameras under bridges and on drones and the use of machine learning. The non-profit organisation River Cleanup shares expertise on clean-up actions, innovative collection techniques, and active reduction of single-use plastics.
Today, on the International Day of Action for Rivers, the three parties presented the first results and demonstrated various detection and analysis techniques. One of these instruments is a mantanet, a trawl VLIZ uses to filter floating microplastics from surface water. Another way to filter microplastics from sea or freshwater is via a ferrybox, a pump system connected to a series of sieves with different mesh sizes.
"INSPIRE solutions are adaptable to local conditions. The aim is to develop a model that can be implemented in every river worldwide after the project has ended," says Gert Everaert, Vice Research Director of VLIZ and coordinator of INSPIRE. "This will allow stakeholders to map the plastic problem themselves and choose the most suitable prevention and collection strategies."
Drones, cameras and smart litter bin
VITO uses drones and cameras under bridges to map plastic waste along riverbanks or floating on the river. "With drone flights and cameras, we got a complete bird's eye view of the banks in Temse, and we can detect plastic waste via AI image analysis, including hard-to-reach areas," says Arne Van Overloop, remote sensing AI expert at VITO.
The JRC floating litter monitoring app uses visual observations from ships, bridges, or banks to enter data on floating macro-waste at sea and rivers. Users can use a smartphone to photograph litter and enter it into the application. This data will be linked to the European Commission's plastic pollution database.
Today, River Cleanup installed the first smart EcoBin on Belgian soil in Temse. The smart EcoBin is an advanced version of the traditional EcoBin, a container for collecting disposable plastic. With a sensor based on audio waves, it continuously measures the distance between the sensor and the waste level in the bin. The data is sent to a central dashboard via a SIM card, where the amount of waste is accurately monitored. This enables more efficient planning of collection routes. River Cleanup also wants to roll out this technology in Indonesia and Cameroon, where it manages its own sorting centers. The smart EcoBin is being tested in Temse to refine its impact and effectiveness further.
"Technology plays a crucial role in our holistic approach to making rivers plastic-free," says Thomas de Groote, founder and CEO of River Cleanup. "Innovations such as the smart EcoBin not only help us to collect waste more efficiently but also contribute to awareness of litter and behavioral change. We are gradually initiating real change by combining prevention and citizen participation."
River Cleanup is also organising clean-up actions in the test zone in Temse. The first clean-up of this year, for which everyone can register for free, will take place on 6 April 2025.
Extra facts:
- In the summer of 2024, VLIZ found between 300 and 11,000 plastic particles larger than 1 mm per square meter. That’s nearly four times as much as in the spring of 2024, when researchers detected up to 3,000 particles per square meter.
- Researchers are monitoring the movement of plastic in the Scheldt River using 26 cameras mounted on the Temse Bridge by VITO. Initial findings indicate that most plastics in the Scheldt consist of small fragments, often entangled in reeds, and that plastic is more frequently carried along the outer bend and northern part of the river than through the center.
- Drones are used to inspect the riverbanks, with AI models capable of detecting objects as small as 2 cm. In the first surveys, 20 to 40 objects were detected over an area the size of a tennis court, including hard-to-reach locations.
- The concentration of microplastics fluctuates significantly throughout the day due to tidal effects. VLIZ accounted for this by conducting measurements at intervals throughout a single day each season.
- The highest concentrations of microplastics are observed when the water flows upstream (from sea to land). In Temse, the water moves upstream during high tide and then flows downstream after the tide recedes.
- Using the JRC app, observers in Temse recorded up to 93 floating plastic waste items in 30 minutes while monitoring the area from the riverbank to Pontoon 1 from the bridge.
About VLIZ
The Flanders Marine Institute (VLIZ) is a scientific organisation dedicated to marine research. Established in 1999 and based in Ostend, Flanders, VLIZ collects and disseminates ocean knowledge, promotes marine sciences, supports policy development, encourages innovative solutions, and manages marine data. The institute collaborates closely with scientific institutions, government bodies, and industry, both nationally and internationally.
VLIZ conducts multidisciplinary research with significant societal relevance and impact. Its research activities follow the principles of Open Science and prioritise broad collaboration. Central to VLIZ's research agenda is the Climate-Ocean-Biodiversity nexus, with particular emphasis on two thematic pillars: 'Ocean and Human Health' and 'Coastal Climate Change'.
About River Cleanup
River Cleanup started in 2017 with a 10-minute cleanup and has since grown into an international organisation with nearly 300,000 volunteers active in over 100 countries. The Belgian non-profit works to make rivers plastic-free. Its key focus areas? Empowering people, preventing pollution through awareness, and accelerating change. Partners include Keytrade Bank, Victrix Foundation, Delhaize, A.S.Adventure, AXA, Multi Masters Group, SumUp, and Volkswagen Belgium.
