Innovation

Clewat's innovation is a marine cleaning device, a vessel, called Cleansweep. The vessel uses water’s own flow which allows it to operate with just a small amount of energy but still gain high efficiency. The vessel resembles a catamaran and uses booms to direct material towards the centre of the vessel. A vacuum and a conveyor belt collect the material and sort it into different containers for further collection.

Inspiration

Clewat's COO describes how the founder of Clewat came up with the original idea: “After the oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010, Johannes realized that there are still not good enough solutions to tackle the environmental problems of the sea. He realized he wanted to make an impact: make a device that collects oil properly.” As a father, Myllykoski was also motivated to improve the future of his children so that they could enjoy a pure nature and seas. The vessel was born after years of development and during the development process Myllykoski was advised to create a system that would also collect plastic waste. He realized that utilizing the sea’s flow, it is possible to find a solution that would effectively improve both serious problems. The device did not come easy though. Myllykoski spent thousands of hours developing it. However, in less than ten years it became operational.

As Clewat’s CCO, Kärkkäinen has brought experience on creating value chains for further processing and recycling the plastic waste. He explains how these value chains are vital for the company because they make the operations profitable. He also has contacts all over the world which he has used for philanthropic projects with Clewat as well as with innovation projects with universities.

Overall impact

Clewat is a part of the United Nations Global Partnership on Marine Litter, the aim of which is to bring together global actors to prevent marine littering. Clewat also contributes to scientific research by collecting water samples from their journeys and delivering them for researchers. Clewat is also a part of Global Tourism Plastics Initiative by the United Nations Environment Programme and the World Tourism Organization, in collaboration with the Ellen McArthur Foundation.

The Sustainable Development Goals to which Clewat is contributing are Life Below Water (number 14), Clean Water and Sanitation (number 6), Affordable and Clean Energy (number 7), Sustainable Cities and Communities (number 11) and Partnerships to Achieve the Goal (number 17).

Clewat also educates communities on waste management and recycling, for example in the Philippines, where plastic pollution threatens the area richest in marine diversity and biodiversity in the world. Kärkkäinen explains that the local problems are “insufficient solid waste management and lack of knowledge about the harms of single use plastics which are consumed excessively”.

Clewat has brought together both the public and private sectors to fight against pollution in the area by training local municipalities. Plastic pollution and climate stress are affecting marine organisms and ecosystems as well as an estimated 90% of marine species. Plastics can be highly toxic to animals and humans, yet only 9% is recycled globally. Kärkkäinen describes that Clewat fights against “destruction of marine areas, extinction of endangered species and climate change in the bigger picture”.

Business benefit

Clewat’s business model is selling cleaning as a service. Services are more accessible to a wider range of customers and easily adaptable to bigger or smaller projects, without a major investment in infrastructure. Services also enable retaining more control over the value chain. As Kärkkäinen describes: “I strongly believe that you have to create a real business case so that you can achieve real impact. Maybe it is capitalist but that’s the way to do it. “

The market is vast and also leaves room for additional innovation. Clewat intends to expand rapidly in terms of number of vessels and value chain building. Clewat’s unique technology enables investment in the technology itself, further enhancing the company’s competitor status in the cleantech industry. As Clewat is currently manufacturing its vessels in Kokkola, Finland, it creates employment opportunities for the local community.

The reasons behind Clewat’s success are the knowledge and experience of the team and the innovative approach to the issue. The team consists of professionals in the areas of marine biology, waste management, recycling, engineering, value chains, and circular economy. “And actually, the momentum is right,” adds Kärkkäinen. Clewat’s customers include public sector actors such as governments and local municipalities as well as private sector actors such as businesses and private individuals.

The good keeps on giving. Having trained government officials about waste management in Cebu, in the Philippines, Clewat found out that Cebu was passing on the training in another city nearby. Clewat also collaborates with research efforts about water conditions in delivering water samples from their journeys.

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Social and environmental benefit

The most visible of Clewat’s benefits are the clean waters which have already been cleaned in several places around the world, including North America (Florida), Central America (Honduras, Guatemala), South-East Asia (Malaysia, Philippines), and Europe (Finland and the Netherlands among others). However, Clewat not only collects waste from the water but creates a whole value chain around the collected materials. This helps ensure that the materials do not end up back in the waters and that they are reused and recycled whenever possible, hence reducing emissions and the environmental load of the waste.

Clewat is fighting against ocean warming and acidification as well as deoxygenation and eutrophication. These hazards are threatening to destroy the habitat of many underwater species and to reduce plankton crucial in preventing carbon from re-entering the atmosphere. Societies also benefit from cleaner waters enabling people to swim, fish, and move with boats again.

Today, there is 150 million tons of plastic waste in the seas. As plastic is one of the main causes of climate change, through plastic removal from the waters, climate change can also be slowed down. In addition, people are being informed about the hazards of improperly implemented, or altogether missing, waste management as well as about better practices for water preservation. In cooperation with the efforts of local communities, Clewat is able to reduce climate stress and plastic pollution affecting micro-organisms and ecosystems.

Interview

Marko Kärkkäinen, Chief Commercial Officer

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