EUCLID, Ohio — It’s an all-out effort to beautify one of our finest natural resources and keep our beaches clean.
Research shows more than 22 million pounds of plastic pollution end up in the Great Lakes every year.
But thanks to a ROBOT, a Euclid area beach is looking better than ever.
The robot is simply called "The BeBot".
It’s been successfully used at beaches in nearly a dozen other states and has seen tremendous success.
It works in ways many have never seen before.
"People along the Great Lakes really care about the habitation. They want to make sure they can enjoy the Great Lakes," Gautier Peers with Searial Cleaners said.
The device was created by Searial Cleaners in France, perfecting the clean-up process—by raking away seaweed and carrying off loads of sand and trash.
Sims Park Beach has never looked better or cleaner.
"What this robot does is actually pick up the finer particles or a lot of plastics break down into smaller pieces," Sarah Orlando with Ohio Sea Grant said.
Getting the BeBot to Euclid was made possible through the efforts of Keep Euclid Beautiful and Keep Ohio Beautiful.
"We've invested a lot, and we just wanna make sure that it's clean," Kirsten Gail, Mayor of Euclid, said.
The BeBot carefully moves over the sand, sifting through and scoping out those tough-to-grab items.
This includes the pieces and parts that the naked eye often can't see.
"The great thing about this machine is it's sifting through the sand, and it's getting some of those small microplastics and smaller pieces the average person wouldn't pick up or maybe even a rake wouldn't," Gail said.
The BeBot moves fast, sweeping up roughly 3,000 square feet of beach an hour.
Officials with Searial Cleaners say it’s environmentally friendly and protects plant and animal life.
It’s also a conversation starter, further highlighting the importance of keeping plastics out of our waterways and showing how we can do our part.
"This gives us a great opportunity, ya know to show them the different kinds of trash we collect," Peers said.
"Also, use it as a teaching tool to engage the local community on why it's so important to reduce, re-use and worst-case scenario--recycle," Orlando said.
The BeBot won’t just be exclusively used at Sims Park.
It’s going to be stored there, but other beaches in Ohio can use it too.
Keep Euclid Beautiful got a grant to cover the cost of the device.
The BeBot runs around $73,000.
