There's something bubbling under the canals of the Netherlands. In 2016, Philip Ehrhorn alongside three other entrepreneurs engineered The Great Bubble Barrier, the world’s first system that automatically extracts disposed plastics underneath the water using bubbles. “The scary part about plastics is that it will never fully degrade and it has a ripple effect,” Ehrhorn says. Over 14 million tonnes of plastic end up in the oceans each year. “A simple idea can change the world and ours starts with bubbles,” Ehrhorn says.
It all began one night in Amsterdam when co-founders Anne Marieke Eveleens, Saskia Studer, and Francis Zoet were drinking beer and speaking about the impact of plastic. The swirling bubbles in their glasses piqued their curiosity. On the other side of the globe, Ehrhorn, an engineering graduate, was inspired by his visit to a wastewater treatment plant in Australia. He noticed online that they were working on a similar idea, and reached out. Together, they developed The Great Bubble Barrier.
This instrument is structured with three crucial components: a bubble curtain, an air supply, and a catchment system. The bubble curtain is made up of a perforated tube that is placed underwater and equipped with an air supply to push the plastic up. Once the currents raise the scraps, they are channelled to the catchment where they can be collected. Covering the length and breadth of a river, initial tests showed the Bubble Barrier has an 86% success rate in catching waste. “What makes it special is the only thing we have to put in the water is the tube with the air,” Ehrhorn says. The Bubble Barrier is designed to not disrupt aquatic life, and boats and ships can still safely navigate. By pumping in more fresh air in the water, the Bubble Barrier also increases oxygen levels.
“We've been told multiple times that this idea wouldn't work,” Ehrhorn says. But even in its infancy The Great Bubble Barrier came first at the 2016 Plastic Free Rivers Makathon before winning the Postcode Lotteries Green Challenge in 2018. “My message to people listening to our story is that you're never too small,” Ehrhorn says. With plans to take the Bubble Barrier around the globe, Ehrhorn remains committed to bubbling plastic to the surface and out of aquatic ecosystems. The most unconventional ideas can provide powerful solutions.
Footage by The Great Bubble Barrier was used in the creation of this film.
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