Which Trash Cleaning Solution is Better?

Read and learn about each of the two design solutions for cleaning up trash in Baltimore, Maryland’s harbor, which is home to 2,700 species of living things. Which one would best preserve the biodiversity of a harbor?

Mr. Trash Wheel

After a storm, in Baltimore, Maryland, a lot of trash will end up flowing down storm drains from the streets and ends up in the harbor. To help solve the problem, John Kellett invented Mr. Trash Wheel. Mr. Trash Wheel works off of solar power and pulls trash out of the water so that it doesn’t end up flowing into the harbor and out into the Ocean.

The trash wheel cost $550,000 to build and costs $200,000/yr to keep it running. To give you an idea of how well this machine works: Mr. Trash Wheel removes 38,000 pounds of trash from the harbor in one day after a storm in April of 2015.

NGSS Phenomena: Images of Mr. Trash wheel, who looks like a snail with big googly eyes, floating on the water.

On a clean day, Mr. Trash Wheel looks very peaceful...

NGSS Phenomena: A belt, feeding trash from the water into Mr. trash wheel.

This timelapse shows Mr. Trash Wheel picking up a massive amount of trash after a storm, with a person helping to make sure Mr. Trash Wheel works smoothly.

Seabin

The Seabin was invented by two Australians, Andrew Turton & Pete Ceglinski, who worked as boat builders and industrial designers that saw the incredible amounts of trash that end up in harbors around the world.

NGSS Phenomena: A yellow bucket shape, sitting at the top of the water and sucking in trash that's floating.

It acts like a trash bin in the water. Floating trash are pulled into the top of the basket.

The Seabin can catch up to 40 lbs of floating trash per day by sucking water into itself. Using a pump and a small net, it sucks in water that has trash in it and pumps clean water back into the ocean. It costs around $9000 to buy and install a Seabin and a little over $10,000 to run one Seabin each year.

NGSS Phenomena: A man walking down a dock and removing the net full of trash from a seabin.

A person needs to remove trash from the bin twice a day.

1. These solutions are looking to help solve the issue of in the .

Drag the answers below into the grey placeholders above

Atlantic Ocean

microplastics

acidification

oils

floating trash

overfishing

Baltimore Harbor

2. Your science class is learning about the Seabin and Mr.Trash Wheel, which are two design solutions for removing trash from harbors. Your classmate argues that the Seabin is the best solution for maintaining an ecosystem’s biodiversity. What is biodiversity and why is it important? Discuss whether you support or reject this claim by providing evidence.

3. Which statement best describes evidence for how well both solutions work?

Seabin can consistently remove trash from the ocean, but Mr. Trash wheel costs too much money for the city to own and operate.
Both are able to remove significant amounts of trash from the water, but only floating debris.
Mr. Trash wheel has proven to be able to remove thousands of pounds of trash from the water, but Seabin has not.
Seabin is able to pump up and clean trash from both the bottom of the harbor and the surface, while Mr. Trash Wheel only cleans the surface.

4. What are 3 of the most important factors to consider when we evaluate which solution is best?

The way it affects other living things, how much trash is can pick up, and the types of trash it can pick up.
The cost, the time it will take to build, and how well it will stand up in a rainstorm
The amount of trash it’s able to pick up, the cost, and the types of trash it can pick up.
The way it affects other living things, the cost, and how much trash it can pick up.

5. Why is it necessary to use either of these solutions?

6. What's the status of biodiversity in Baltimore Harbor and how will these solutions help the biodiversity?

7. What are the strengths and weakness of each design, when looking at their cost?

8. What are 3 criteria that you would expect this solution to have?

9. Compare how well each of the solutions will be able to maintain ecosystem biodiversity. Which do you think would do a better job and why?

10. What side effects could you see for either of these designs on the ecosystem of the harbor?