Styrofoam Particle Collector for Use of Coastal Cleanup using Electrostatic Effect and Van de Graaff Generator

Abstract

According to the California coastal commission, more than 26,000 volunteers throughout California removed more than 300,000 pounds of trash from beaches and waterways during the California Coastal Cleanup 2021 event.¹ I participated in Long Beach’s ‘California Coastal Cleanup Day’² and noticed many small, cultch like particles such as styrofoam that mingled within the sand across the entire coastal region. Upon closer examination, I have also learned that styrofoam is a particularly dangerous type of pollution that poses a great threat to humans, the environment, and animals.³ I attempted to collect the styrofoam particles by hand and found it incredibly difficult to effectively pick up the pieces that litter our beaches. I have conducted further research on styrofoam and found that its chemical makeup can become electrostatically charged and mobilized under the influence of an electrostatic field. In this letter, I propose a styrofoam particle collector where the operational principle employs the electrostatic effect and the Van de Graaff generator. I also performed experiments to validate the working mechanism of the device. Finally, using a 3D modeling software and a 3D printer, the styrofoam particle collector was designed, integrated and successfully demonstrated. As a result, it is highlighted that the proposed idea is a very cost effective method and could be scaled up in size to effectively clean up the small styrofoam particles mingled within the sand in the coastal area of Long Beach, CA as well as other areas where the styrofoam particles appear to be a major pollutant.