Kingspan : and Clearbot partner to clean up Kerala's waterways

• Kingspan announces third ocean cleanup project, and first with autonomous marine vehicle Clearbot
• Electric vessel to clear waste from inland waters
• Delivering on Planet Passionate commitment to support five ocean clean-up projects by 2025

Kingspan Global is supporting a third project to clean up the world's waterways by partnering with Clearbot in Kerala, India.

Clearbot creates unmanned, electric, emissions-free robots that tackle challenges including inspection and monitoring, to intervention and cleaning of urban waterways. Clearbot Neo, which will be in use in Kerala, can collect up to 15 litres of oil and 200 kilograms of floating trash per mission. Unlike some current marine clear-up vessels which burn fuel - generating CO₂ and polluting the water they are trying to clean - the vessel creates no pollution and emits no greenhouse gases.

Our 10-year sustainability programme, Planet Passionate, includes a commitment to supporting five ocean clean-up projects around the world by 2025. This was launched in 2019 through our three-year partnership with the ECOALF Foundation to remove up to 150 tonnes of waste from the Mediterranean each year. 2021 saw the launch of Kingspan's partnership with Seabin^TM, which has so far supported projects in Sydney Harbour and Marina del Rey in Los Angeles.

Waste accumulates in Kerala's inland waters around marinas, ports and industrial sites. These types of sites are global hotspots for plastic pollution, producing 322 million tons in 2015 alone¹. Mismanaged litter at these hotspots can easily move from the land to the water, posing a threat to wildlife and eventually breaking down into microplastics. With Kingspan's support, Clearbot is targeting impacted, vulnerable communities in the region by stopping the leakage of marine trash into the ocean.

Studies show that human activity and mismanagement of waste is a leading cause of the volume of plastic in our oceans: only 9% of all plastic produced worldwide has been recycled and 22% is mismanaged², according to the OECD. Kingspan is committed to changing the take-make-waste culture of the construction industry and is focused on innovative solutions to support the circular agenda. In 2021, Kingspan recycled 843 million PET plastic bottles into manufacturing processes and is targeting zero waste to landfill by 2030.

As well as working towards a plastic-free ocean, Clearbot provides valuable data and AI-powered transparency. Waste is collected, photographed and categorized, allowing remote dashboard users to see what types of waste are collected in each location. This enables a greater understanding of marine waste challenges, revealing emerging trends and supporting informed decision-making.

Plastic waste makes up nearly 74% of beach litter along Kerala's coastline³, with 36% of this being fishing-related. The collected debris will be recycled where possible, with Clearbot providing complete transparency on how much waste was deemed recyclable.

Kingspan has a substantial presence in India through the joint venture Kingspan Jindal.
Sidhant, co-founder from Clearbot said: