Finding the plastic hotspots with (GIS) data

Finding the plastic hotspots with (GIS) data: Synthesis Project 2021

Pena Pereira, Simon (TU Delft Architecture and the Built Environment)
PAVLIDOU, ANDRONIKI (TU Delft Architecture and the Built Environment)
PANTELIOS, KONSTANTINOS (TU Delft Architecture and the Built Environment)
Kountouri, Pinelopi (TU Delft Architecture and the Built Environment)
Meschin, Katrin (TU Delft Architecture and the Built Environment)
Geers, Lisa (TU Delft Architecture and the Built Environment)

Agugiaro, G. (mentor)
Arroyo Ohori, G.A.K. (mentor)
de Vries, Rinze (mentor)
Broere, Sophie (mentor)

Delft University of Technology

Geomatics

Synthesis Project 2021

2021-06-18

The plastic pollution of aquatic environment is undoubtedly an emerging environmental risk, as it negatively affects ecosystems globally to a great extent. To prevent the plastic soup from growing even further, a Delft-based start-up Noria has developed plastic collectors, to remove plastic from rivers and canals before it reaches the ocean. In order for these devices to give maximum positive effect, they need to be installed in areas where plastic is more likely to accumulate - the plastic hotspots. Taking into consideration various natural attributes that affect the movement of the plastic waste in the water, such as wind direction, water flow, canal geometry, vegetation and man made structures in waterways; potential hotspots can be predicted in a model which would allow more efficient coordination of the cleaning process. Thus, this project aims to locate plastic accumulation zones in the city of Delft in a (semi-) automated manner using open spatial data analysed in GIS and a network simulation model.
The methodology developed in this project results in the visualisation of potential plastic hotspots where Noria’s collectors could be placed in order to remove and recycle the plastic. The potential hotspots suggested by the model were compared with ground truth data collected. The final result yielded only 20% accuracy and therefore did not meet the initial expectation. An evaluation of the shortcomings was made with suggestions for future research.

plastic hotspot
plastic pollution
GIS
network simulation
waterways

http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:00de81ee-ef54-41d5-a846-9b2c9da9546f

Student theses

student report

© 2021 Simon Pena Pereira, ANDRONIKI PAVLIDOU, KONSTANTINOS PANTELIOS, Pinelopi Kountouri, Katrin Meschin, Lisa Geers