Garbage-collecting aqua drones and jellyfish filters for cleaner oceans

'I'm an accidental environmentalist,' said Richard Hardiman, who runs a project called WASTESHARK. He says that while walking at his local harbour one day he stopped to watch two men struggle to scoop litter out of the sea using a pool net. Their inefficiency bothered Hardiman, and he set about trying to solve the problem. It was only when he delved deeper into the issue that he realised how damaging marine litter, and plastic in particular, can be, he says. 'I started exploring where this trash goes – ocean gyres (circular currents), junk gyres, and they're just full of plastic.