WasteShark Leeds: Meet the litter-eating robot cleaning up the city’s waterways

A new cutting-edge aquatic robot inspired by a whale shark is cleaning up Leeds City Centre waterways.

Transcript

00:00My name's Paul Ellison, I'm the Managing Director of Yorkshire Design Group in Leeds.

00:03Our office is based next to the water, often I look out and sometimes you see even a cormorant

00:08that's fishing in the water and occasionally you see the litter as well and I was thinking

00:12well I hope the cormorant doesn't start eating that litter and I looked around and

00:17found Ranmarine and they supply the remote control drone, it's robotic, powered by

00:22electric batteries and motors and it can scoop up the waste from the river surface as it

00:28travels along.

00:29It's the first time we've seen businesses coming together with a little bit of local

00:31government and other enterprises, the Canal and River Trust as such, to see these waste

00:36sharks in operation in the waters where frankly they need to be seen and Leeds obviously is

00:40a city around the canals and the river and for local businesses to take such an interest

00:44in such a project like this is just, it's heartwarming, it really makes the job so pleasurable

00:48to do.

00:49Putting them together into a group and getting an organisation behind it and also teaming

00:53up with Leeds Civic Trust and the council as well and BIFA as a waste partner to handle

00:59the waste that it collects has been a really satisfying process and now to see it actually

01:03launched on the water, it's great and it's the first time we've all met as a group

01:06because it's been done online so it was a really nice thing to get together and give

01:11ourselves a modest pat on the back for launching it as a project.

01:14To draw data from this project on an instant basis, we know exactly what's going on

01:18and to be able to check and see the state of the rivers and be able to report back in

01:21the year is going to be so important. That data we pull off is going to give us an indication

01:26of the health of our rivers and I'm sad to say that I can't see things improving

01:30just in one year but it's those attitudes to making a change that are important.

01:35It's really good to bring it to the city, I think Leeds is a city of innovators and

01:39this is quite unique in that it's a first to be organised by a group of businesses in

01:44the city centre and it's a first to actually record the waste and to be operated by a social

01:49enterprise too. So we're really looking forward to the excitement that generates and

01:54we'll see what the practical output of it is over the year.