KAILUA-KONA — Kamilo Point on Hawaii Island, one of the most rugged and hard-to-reach beaches in the state, has long been known as “plastic beach, trash beach and rubbish beach.”
That’s because plastic debris washed in by currents, as evidenced recently stacked several feet high, is a common sight.
Thankfully, eager, enterprising students are there to help.
The Hoola One, a unique machine built to deal with tiny pieces of rubbish known as microplastic may be the answer to removing the small bits of plastic still plaguing the white sand. It was developed by a dozen mechanical engineering students at the University of Sherbrooke in Quebec.
“The potential application for this machine both in Hawaii and around the world can be huge,” said Megan Lamson Leatherman, a marine biologist who works with both the Hawaii Wildlife Fund and the Department of Land and Natural Resources Division of Aquatic Resources. “We’ve always kind of joked about having a marine debris plastic magnet and this is the closest and most innovative project that I’ve seen. I’ve got a lot of hope for this and I’m really stoked.”
The name Hoola One translated means “giving life back to the sand.” Its efficacy in that regard will soon be tested as the machine recently arrived in Hawaii, according to a DLNR press release.
Nine of its creators traveled with the Hoola One to Hawaii, having raised over $70,000 for its construction and $15,000 to make the trip. They’ve been monitoring the machine day and night to work out the kinks of a contraption two years in the making.
Three of the students work full-time on the project with the hopes of parlaying their efforts into a business venture where they downsize the machine and begin producing models that can be shipped around the globe to help address the issue of marine micro-plastics, DLNR said.
Marine plastic pollution is a threat to aquatic wildlife because they can ingest it and it can be a vector for the transmission of invasive species and diseases, the release stated.
“All of this rubbish is created by someone, somewhere. We can’t point the finger and blame a specific country or any one industry,” said Brian Neilson, DAR administrator. “This is a global problem and we can all contribute to solving it by practicing the 4Rs — refuse, reduce, re-use and recycle.”
The university team is now analyzing the results of its Hawaii tests and indicate that after each day, with adjustments and alterations, the Hoola One prototype improved its performance, the release said.
The machine is expected to remain in Hawaii where others will be trained to operate it. In Honolulu this week the students are meeting with numerous beach-cleanup organizations as well as potential funders to secure the money needed to build additional machines.
