Foreign Literature

Water waste is a major problem around the globe and can be classified as water

pollution. Plastic is the major contributor in the wastes on water. Kornei (2017), stated

that millions of tons of garbage are produced by humans that end up in ocean by

accident or illegal dumping. Trash that goes on the water affects the life under the sea.

The database of litterbase shows that more than 1200 marine animals are in contact

with the trash by living, eating and becoming entangled in it.

According to Feilberg (2018), the current age is called the Plastic Age where

everywhere you are surrounded by plastic products that are easy to get and easy to

throw away. Major industries including plastic manufacturers, chemical industries and

business companies are the key contributors on the plastic waste. The wastes on the

ocean come from the smaller bodies of water. Removing plastic from the water is only a

short-term solution, the sources of the pollution is the one needed to be traced to stop

the problem.

As stated by Gray (2018), the researchers found out that river systems carry 90%

of their trash in the area up to the ocean. The high population of people living in the

surrounding area does not have the ideal management process which in return

produces the high densit y of trash on the river. The Yangtze River of china is the carrier

of plastic pollution to the ocean. China began its prevention to this by ordering 46 cities

to sort waste to reach a 35% recycling rate by 2020.

 De (2017), claimed that the water pollution can affect human health in many

ways. Dirty water are the preferred breeding areas for mosquitos which will cause

diseases such as Malaria, Filariasis, Dengue and Chikungunya. Cleaning this trash can

make a major impact in the marine and human life.

Local Literature

The Philippines is a country that is surrounded by water. According to Marrone

(October 2016), Philippines has a major problem in water pollution. The increase in

population, urbanization and industrialization had affected the quality of water. Out of

421 rivers in the Philippines, 50 are considered dead and unable to sustain marine life.

Waste on the water can affect both human and animal life. Improper waste

disposal will result in the pollution of the water areas. Roxas (2017), stated that waste

and pollution on the river worsened the floods even if it’s only monsoon. Trashes

clogged drains and creeks which causes the flood to be concentrated on one place. A

simple waste disposal will make a difference in the environment. Keeping the

waterways free from debris will lower the level of flood in case of a heavy rain.

According to Mcdermott (2017), in San Fernando Pampanga they use garbage

trucks to collect garbage from house to house. Trash pickers collect scraps and sorted

debris on every house daily. The method they used increased the percent of recycled

waste from 75 percent. This will have a major impact because the trashes that can go

on the river are being recycled and used for other purposes instead of getting thrown
out improperly. The collection of trash also prevented standing water that mosquitos

breed in. That means there will be a fewer cases of malaria and dengue on the area.

According to Claudio (2015) the existing situation is that only 10% of water waste

is being treated while 58% of the existing groundwater is contaminated in the

Philippines. And according to the study of UNIDO, Metro Manila alone is being disposed

by 22,000 tons of metals, infectious wastes, biological sludge and as well as 25 million

cubic meters of acid and alkaline liquid wastes. Claudio (2015) states that the major

sources of pollution are inadequately treated domestic wastewater or sewage it is about

48%, Agricultural water waste that is about 37% and lastly, industrial water waste that Is

about 15%. The areas of the country that are most affected are the regions that have

unsatisfactory ratings in terms of quality. This includes National Capital Region (NCR)

or Metro Manila, Southern Tagalog Region (Region IV), Central Luzon (Region III), and

Central Visayas (Region VII) and it is also found that the region with the highest

contributors in nitrate contamination is Ilocos Region (Region I).

Foreign Study

Kellet invented a device called Mr. Trash Wheel that can remove trash present

on the river where it is placed. The device aims to clear the water of trash on

Baltimore’s Inner Harbor before it enters the Chesapeake Bay. It is a trash – skimming

device that uses the river’s current to turn the water wheel which lifts trash and debris

using a conveyer belt from the water and deposits it on the dumpster on its back. There

is also a solar panel array which is used if the current in the river is not enough to lift up

trash. According to Snow (2017), the machine draws power from the river's current to
turn the waterwheel and power the conveyor belt. Solar panels are attached to draw

power if there is not enough current on the river. The tubes around the area helps the

trash go up the conveyor belt which then drops the debris on the dumpster behind it.

The machine collects 38,000 of trash on a single day. Its solar panels collect about

25,000 watts of power which can be enough to power up a house. According to Thaler

(2015), the waterwheel is simple but effective. It has collected 145 tons of trash and

125,000 plastic bottles of water in just 12 months. There are also exceptions on the

trash it can collect. It can’t collect micro beads, scrubbing agents, and flimsy trashes.

The automated Seabin marine waste collector is a simple but effective stationary

bin designed to float on marinas, waterways and lakes. It collects debris and traps in a

catch bag by sucking water from the surface and letting it flow out the bottom of the bin.

According to Grozdanic (2015), the Seabin uses a water pump to suck water from the

surface and passes through the catch bag inside then pumps it back into the marina

leaving the litter and debris trapped in the catch bag. They are mostly placed on a

floating dock where the trashes are present because of the density of the people in the

area. The catch bag inside the Seabin can hold up to 20 kilograms of debris which is

needed to be cleared and emptied to prevent a malfunction in the device. According to

Myers (2018), The Seabin can catch around 1.5 kilograms of trash per day. Filters are

installed to separate oil from water. It also has no threat to wildlife and only a few small

fish have been caught in it.

According to Atherton (2016), Richard Hardiman of RanMarine takes a step to

clean trash by creating the Waste Shark machine. The Waste Shark has an open mouth
in the middle which extends 1 foot below to collect trash it encounters on its front. It has

a filter that separates the oil from the water and is also remote controlled and monitored

via GPS. The machine not only collects trash but also monitors the quality of the water

which can detect its chemical makeup and pH balance. Each machine can collect up to

1,100 pounds of waste. It is designed to be placed on rivers, ports and marinas.

The plastic on the oceans is increasing every year. People come up with ways to

clean it but some come up with ways to prevent it. A company named Avani Eco that is

based on Bali has created a bag that is eco-friendly. According to Gray (May 2018), The

company Avani Eco has created a bag that is completely biodegradable and

compostable but looks like a plastic. The packaging is made from edible wheat and

barley which will not cause harm to animals even if they eat it. Another creation named

Ooho that is invented by Rodrigo García González, Guillaume Couche and Pierre

Paslier is used to replace plastic bottles on the ocean. According to Nelson (April 2017),

a gelatinous blob named Ooho encapsulates water inside it. It is pop on the mouth to

release the water inside it. The blob coating is made from brown algae and calcium

chloride which is edible.

Local Study

There are many polluted water areas in the Philippines. Proper waste

management is not enforced properly in the Philippines which causes the trash going on

the water areas. One of the most polluted area in the Philippines is the Manila. The

water surrounding the Manila is plastic polluted and will not be able to sustain marine

life. Pasig River is one of the rivers that has been destroyed by the residents living in
the area. The Pasig River was considered biologically dead. The wastes scattered on

the area makes the water inevitable to sustain life. Japan’s Shokubutsu Hana takes a

team to step up in cleaning the river. According to Beer (2014), a campaign to

rehabilitate the river is being conducted by using a billboard to clean the wastes. The

floating billboard is made of grass that can absorb toxic materials and help reduce

pollution. It is capable of cleaning about 8,000 gallons of water a day.

Over the last decades Philippines have many positive impacts. This includes

excellent economic performance and quick industrial expansion, but this has a negative

effect that quickly resulted in poor hydrological and ecological changes in the city’s river

systems and it has created an environmental problem. According to Jalilov (December

2017) these consequences would not be a part of systematic assessment of the

benefits of city waters so Jalilov investigates the relationship between poor quality of

water and the people’s willingness to pay for a better water quality in Metro Manila. By

implementing contingent valuation method, the study estimates the benefits of the

provision of clean water quality that is swimmable and fishable in water areas of Metro

Manila for its residents.

Synthesis

Based on the studies read, the proponent’s prototype is closed to the Seabin and

Trash Wheel inventions. The former is a water trash bin that uses a water pump to

control the flow of water which traps the trash inside it and the latter which is a

stationary trash-skimming device which is powered by a solar array or using the rivers

current to control the conveyor belt that pulls up the trash. The proponents’ prototype
would have capabilities of these devices, but were tweaked in a new and innovative

way. This project would be wirelessly controlled which is more reliable in getting wastes

on different parts of water areas.

Other study that collects floating wastes on water areas is Waste Shark. The

water wastes present on the front of the Waste Shark are collected through its open

mouth designed. It has a feature that can separate oil from water and being controlled

remotely and monitored via GPS. In addition, this can also monitor and detect if the

water contains chemical makeup and pH balance. The proponents’ prototype can

collect floating wastes through conveyor belt by controlling manually and can also be

monitored via GSM module.

The floating billboard using a type of grass that helps in absorbing toxic materials

in water areas. It has a capability to clean 2000 and 8000 gallons of water every day.

This project can also be a solution in reducing wastes on water areas by discouraging

people from throwing their wastes on the water due to the floating billboard environment

friendly messages.