Plastic waste is a major concern and a global issue, polluting the marine environment, rivers and land-based sites.
Now, a new tool has been developed that can measure plastic waste from space using a combination of artificial intelligence (AI) and advanced satellite data tech.
The tool, known as Global Plastic Watch, has been developed by Australian philanthropic organisation Minderoo Foundation.
It is able to create a detailed high-res map of plastic pollution in close to real time.
So far, it has been used to identify more than 2,800 waste sites located across 25 countries.
Regions and countries that have been mapped to date include all of South-East Asia, Australia and the countries identified as the top sources of plastic leakage into the seas in another study published in Science Advances.
The aim is to equip authorities with the knowledge they need to prevent and manage the leaking of plastic into the marine environment.
The Global Plastic Watch tool uses remote sensing satellite imagery collected by the European Space Agency (ESA), along with a unique machine learning algorithm developed in conjunction with digital product agency Earthrise Media.
AI tool determines the size and scale of plastic waste sites
The tool is able to recognise land-based plastic waste sites and determine the size and scale of them.
According to Minderoo Foundation, nearly a quarter (22%) of sites examined were within 250m of a waterway.
8.1% were within 100m of a waterway, increasing the chances of plastic getting into the water cycle and finding its way to the oceans.
Dr Andrew Forrest, chairman and co-founder of Minderoo Foundation, said that data was an important weapon in the fight against plastic waste, especially when used transparently.
The information being built up by Global Plastic Watch is described as the biggest ever open-source dataset of plastic pollution, and it’s hoped that governments, industry, researchers and communities will use it to monitor and evaluate the risks of land-based plastic waste sites.
Dr Fabien Laurier, lead for technology and innovation and ocean conservation at Minderoo Foundation, said that some of the initial findings of the project were surprising.
Many of the major waste sites identified were undocumented and the overall number of sites was “much higher than expected”, he added.
The foundation aims to improve the AI and the accuracy of the tool as it surveys further regions and countries throughout the year.
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