Researchers Develop Drone Platform Detecting Coastal Plastic

Researchers at the University of Limerick developed a drone-based platform that uses machine learning to detect beach plastics and produce GPS coordinates for targeted clean-ups. Piloted under the EU-funded BluePoint project, the system detects items as small as 1cm, averaged 30 plastics per ten-minute flight, and has been tested across nine countries with over 2,000 participants. Local authorities and community groups use the data to target hotspots and inform recycling strategies.