Manta, Mobula, awareness… How was the Z Event money used?

The Summer of 2022 was a busy one, explaining our project to a large community of fans and raising awareness of the unprecedented ecological disaster represented by plastic pollution. It ended with 3 days of madness led by 59 unleashed streamers, gathered in the South of France from 8 to 11 September. At the end of the marathon, the results were in: The SeaCleaners was to receive €2.4 million to fund its clean-up projects!

To take a closer look at this extraordinary adventure, we recommend you read the recap here.

9 months later, we explain what we’ve done with the money raised thanks to the unprecedented generosity of our viewers.

The first essential point to note is that it is the Fondation de France that has centralised the donations from the ZEvent community. It is the Fondation that redistributes them to the beneficiary associations. This is an essential guarantee of transparency and proper use to reassure donors.

The foundation also organises the monitoring and traceability of the use of funds. Beneficiary associations, including The SeaCleaners, have signed an agreement to ensure that donations are used solely for projects of general interest, and not to pay their operating costs.

The money raised for us is paid back gradually, in instalments, on presentation of a periodic detailed report on the breakdown of the funds and the progress of our projects.

By the end of June 2023, The SeaCleaners had received one million euros out of the €2.4 million raised. A second and third tranches will follow at the beginning of July and then in December 2023.

The SeaCleaners had announced that it would be directing donations towards 3 types of very concrete action, both on land and at sea, in keeping with the unique DNA of its charity project:

1) The advancement of the MANTA ambassador ship, through the testing and trial phases of the various technological building blocks that make it up.

2) Deploying innovative clean-up solutions in the countries worst affected by plastic pollution.

3) Implementing awareness-raising initiatives aimed at the communities most affected by plastic pollution, to reduce waste at source.

1. Development of the ambassador ship The MANTA

THREE STUDIES HAVE BEEN CARRIED OUT TO MAKE THE BOAT EVEN “GREENER”:

Studies on propulsion

The project to study the Manta’s twin-screw propulsion system is being managed entirely by Manta Innovation on behalf of The SeaCleaners and aims to further reduce the MANTA’s energy consumption bill by validating the hydrodynamic design of the hulls, selecting the best twin-screw propulsion solution and studying the performance of the twin-screw propulsion system in two different sailing situations: (i) under sail alone (pure twin-screw propulsion) and (ii) under sail with engines (engine propulsion with twin-screw assistance).

Completion of the study: September 2023

Committed budget: 106,134 €

Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of the Manta

The project to carry out a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of the MANTA is being managed entirely by Manta Innovation on behalf of The SeaCleaners and aims to assess the environmental impact of the construction, operation and dismantling of the vessel.

The Manta LCA aims to assess the energy flows, emissions and discharges of the vessel as accurately as possible during its operational life, so that the environmental impacts can be quantified and reduced before the shipbuilding contract is awarded to a shipyard.

Completion of the study: December 2023

Committed budget: €50,400

Environmental impact study (tests and analysis) of the waste treatment system (WECU)

The Waste to Energy Conversion Unit (WECU) environmental impact study project is being managed entirely by Manta Innovation on behalf of The SeaCleaners. Its aim is not only to finalise the definition and process control studies for the waste treatment system, which includes a clean incinerator, but also to assess and minimise its discharges.

Delivery of the study: September 2023

Committed budget: €104,346

TWO DEVELOPMENTS HAVE BEEN CARRIED OUT TO MAKE THE MANTA EVEN MORE EFFICIENT IN ITS WASTE COLLECTION AND RECOVERY MISSIONS

Design, manufacture and testing of a collection net

The aim is to manufacture and test collection nets, incorporating all the modifications resulting from feedback from the trials and digital simulations already carried out by Manta Innovation, in order to increase the efficiency of the nets in collecting submerged waste. The first trials, paid for out of the association’s funds, took place at the end of 2022.

Completion of the second trials: September 2023

Committed budget: €14,805

Development of a plastics identification tool (Scanner)

The plastics scanner development project is being managed entirely by Manta Innovation on behalf of The SeaCleaners and aims to develop a portable, low-cost identification tool for the various polymers most commonly used.

The aim of the scanner is to facilitate the sorting of plastic waste, making recycling possible and promoting the development of the circular economy in the developing countries most affected by the scourge of plastic pollution.

Provisional delivery date: December 2023

Committed budget: €4,135

2. Deploying innovative pollution control solutions in vulnerable countries

Launch of the construction of the 2nd MOBULA 8

MOBULAs are bespoke multi-purpose clean-up boats that intercept waste in rivers before it reaches the ocean. 80% of marine waste is land-based, and rivers are its preferred route.

The MOBULA 8 is particularly well suited to calm, protected waters (rivers, lake areas, mangroves, port areas, etc.).

The MOBULA 8, paid for with Z Event funds will be named MOBULA Z in honour of Z Event donors 😊. It incorporates feedback from our field team in Indonesia, where a first boat of the same model, paid for by the association’s own funds, has been in service in Bali since March 2023.

Date of delivery of the Mobula Z: December 2023

Cost: €333,477

Launch of construction of the MOBULA 10

The Mobula 10 is specifically designed to clean up pollution in rivers with strong currents and in coastal marine areas (up to 20 miles from its point of departure).

Date of delivery: December 2023

Cost: €491,014

Development of a waste recovery container

This is a containerised waste recovery unit incorporating existing processing equipment from the Precious Plastic network (shredders, dryers, presses, extruders, injectors, etc.).

This containerisation makes it easy to transport and deploy the unit as close as possible to the areas where depollution operations are carried out.

The unit can convert plastic waste into components (boards, plates, hinges, brackets, etc.) and also build objects that are useful to local people (bins, furniture, etc.). It is also capable of converting plastic waste into materials that can be used in local recycling channels by sorting, shredding, cleaning and packaging.

Date of delivery: December 2023

Cost: €91,590

3. Development of awareness-raising tools for affected populations

Development of tools and actions around the Mobula 8 in Bali

A number of events have already taken place: classroom presentations, school and extra-curricular visits to MOBULA, awareness-raising events for the Fête de la Science and Earth Day, a video for World Oceans Day, stands at events, etc.

An educational booklet in the local language was produced for teachers and pupils to use in class, adapted to the local school curriculum (8 to 14 years old – 10 pages) (1000 copies already distributed).

An exploratory mission took place in BALI to train our local coordinator and meet potential associative and educational partners. The network of partner schools is currently being developed. Awareness-raising campaigns will start in September.

The aim is to use MOBULA’s mission to BALI as a means of raising awareness, understanding the scale and impact of this scourge and proposing solutions, with a view to inspiring a change in behaviour.

Awareness-raising tools are also being developed to accompany our onshore projects with local associations PEDULI ALAM and GILI ECO TRUST.

The aim is to raise awareness among around 250,000 people each year around the Mobula 8 and awareness-raising operations.

Committed amount: €6,980

Development of a Web platform

To bring the Manta and Mobula to life beyond their routes and ports of call, we’ll be offering a wide audience the chance to follow the boats’ missions and collection results online, in several languages. This web platform will be interactive, intuitive, ergonomic and developed for a broad, international audience. The aim is to enable everyone to see the quantities of waste collected during the boats’ missions and to learn more about plastic pollution.

Committed budget: €90,000

Promises kept

We’ll be bringing you a full update on the progress of all these projects, and the amounts spent on each, at the end of the year once the final instalment of the Z Event funds has been paid out.

And, on the subject of promises kept, we’d like to take this opportunity to thank the streamers we met at the Z Event who promised to do clean-ups with us in the form of donation goals… and who kept their promise! Big up to Ponce and Shaunz!