Hello,

in a world with no more oil to mine people started harvesting and recycling the plastic floating in the seas.
Many companies came together and formed a Joint Venture in order to design and manufacture plastic harvesters.

Plastic has become so valuable as a ressource that some harvesters have been hijacked by pirates who used the revenue of harvested plastic for their own purposes. This led to the harvesters' armament with 8 heavy machine guns covering the front, back and sides of the machine.
Both hostile watercraft and aircraft can be targeted.

Plastic harvesters basically work like giant vacuum cleaners. 4 big pumps suck in water and plastic through the harvesting bar at the front which conveys the plastic to the center of the vehicle using augers. Sieves separate water and plastic. Excess water is dispensed at the harvester's back into the sea. The plastic travels into a compactor which dehydrates and compacts the plastic into large cubic bales, so that it uses less space in the storage containers it gets conveyed to after compacting.

For unloading the containers can be tipped backwards tossing the plastic bales into hoppers with another conveyor belt underneath which ultimately transferres the pastic onto a cargo ship. The ship brings the plastic to the shore where it gets further treated.

Since there is no more fossile fuel to burn in engines, the harvester is powered completely electrically. It has a high capacity battery in a separate, reinforced housing right behind the driver's cabin because the batteries tend to create massive explosions when they get damaged.
There also are two high density solar panels on top of the 4 pumps behind the battery housing supplying the harvester with enough power to work fully autonomously during day and night.

The harvesters can be piloted manually or by the on-board AI and GPS. Every harvester carries a drone with cameras to inspect the surrounding area and search for the biggest plastic accumulations. This information is sent to the pilot and the AI which then can set the optimal course for maximum throughput performance.

The helicopter landing platform is both used for storing and charging the drone as well as for regular helicopters supplying the harvester's pilot with food and water or spare parts and tools if something needs to be fixed.

Unfortunately the harvesters have a great drag because the harvesting bar creates a large water resistance. To overcome this problem and still achieve a reasonable speed the engineers equipped the harvesters with 3 main propulsion drives and 6 smaller steering motors. They all use waterjet propulsion and are powered electrically.

Since the harvester does its job by itself most of the time, guided by its AI, GPS and drone, it became common for harvester pilots to setup a small chillout area in the back, right in front of the helicopter landing platform.

Pilots who have been interviewed and asked, what it was like to operate a plastic harvester, said: "From the cab it feels like a combine, but it steers like a tank and the power with which it ploughs through the water is incredible. And when you're walking on the railing you feel like a conquerer searching for new territory. You gotta experience it yourself, it really is amazing".

Despite the optimism, large profits and the harvesters' pilots' reputation as saviors of the oceans, the golden ages of plastic harvesting will soon come to an end because humanity after all tends to exploit ressources way too quickly.

Enjoy!



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