Tackling River Pollution by DEME

DEME Environmental Contractors (DEC), the environmental specialists of DEME, is installing a plastic collector on the river Scheldt on behalf of the Vlaamse Waterweg (the Flemish authority responsible for waterways in Flanders).

A combination of a fixed and mobile installation will be tested for a year to collect waste from the water.

To tackle the increasing problem of river pollution, the Vlaamse Waterweg is joining forces with the business world to test the concept of waste collectors on the river Scheldt. After a call from the Vlaamse Waterweg to companies to submit an innovative proposal, DEME proposed a project for collecting waste by the Temse-Bornem Scheldt bridges.

In addition to the mobile plastic collector, DEME will also test a fixed installation to collect floating and suspended waste. The installation will consist of a V-shaped fyke with a collection pontoon.

Dirk Poppe, Managing Director of DEC, said: “In the course of our global activities we are confronted daily with waste in rivers and oceans. During dredging works, for example, we come across large quantities of plastic.”

“For DEME’s environmental subsidiary DEC, that specializes among other things in soil, sludge and water remediation, it is a logical step to use our expertise to cooperate actively on solutions for the global waste problem. By collecting plastic in rivers we can avoid it landing up in our seas and oceans, where it is more difficult to tackle the problem.

“As a pioneering company we continue to commit to technologies and innovations that offer solutions for global challenges. By cooperating with the Vlaamse Waterweg we can thoroughly test the operation of the plastic collector and see whether we can use the technology on a larger scale in rivers, river deltas and ports.”