PlasticPatrol

PlasticPatrol is an AI-based and satellite-powered platform for detecting, tracking, and incentivizing the cleanup of plastic debris in oceans and on coastlines.

The problem:

Over 8 million tonnes of plastic enter the oceans every year, devastating marine ecosystems, contaminating water supplies, and threatening biodiversity. Current cleanup efforts are fragmented, reactive, and rely on chance encounters with debris. Municipalities and environmental organizations lack a real-time, scalable system to:

- Detect where plastic accumulates (both in open water and along coastlines),

- Verify that reported cleanups actually happened,

- Motivate citizens to actively participate in removal.

The solution:

PlasticPatrol bridges the gap between space-based remote sensing and citizen-led action on the ground through a three-layer architecture:

1. Satellite Detection Pipeline — A custom evalscript running on Copernicus Sentinel-2 L2A imagery applies a multi-stage spectral analysis (NDWI water masking → FDI Floating Debris Index → NDVI vegetation rejection → land-kill filters using SWIR/NIR bands) to identify floating plastic accumulations at 10-meter resolution across configurable hotspot regions worldwide (Rotterdam, Bosphorus, Constanța, Singapore Strait, LA/Long Beach, Rio de Janeiro, Malta Channel, and more).

2. ML Image Verification — When a user physically reaches a debris cluster and submits a photo as proof, an on-device EfficientNet/MobileNetV2-based binary classifier (trained on ocean debris vs. clean water imagery) verifies that the photo genuinely shows plastic. This prevents fraudulent "cleanup" claims. The cleanup is then independently re-verified by the next satellite pass — if the satellite now sees clean water where debris was previously detected, the cleanup is confirmed and eco-points are awarded.

3. Gamified Citizen Engagement — Users register, receive a live map of debris clusters near their location (loaded via geolocation within a configurable radius), reserve a cluster for 24 hours, physically collect the waste, submit photographic proof, and earn eco-points upon satellite verification. A leaderboard, notification system, and point tiers (small/medium/large clusters) drive sustained participation.

-> The platform features a FastAPI backend with PostGIS spatial queries, an Angular 21 frontend with Leaflet-based interactive maps, and a fully automated data pipeline that periodically scans global hotspots and inserts new detections while deduplicating within 100-meter proximity.

Data & Signals Used

Challenge Addressed: Protecting Water Resources from Pollution

PlasticPatrol directly tackles the challenge of protecting and managing water resources by combining EU space technology with citizen action to remove one of the most pervasive and damaging pollutants — plastic waste.

How We Contribute

1. Detection → Prevention: By identifying plastic accumulation zones before debris breaks down into microplastics, we enable proactive intervention. Microplastics (particles < 5mm) are nearly impossible to recover once dispersed and contaminate drinking water sources, aquatic food chains, and sediment. Our 10-meter satellite detection catches debris while it's still recoverable.

2. Data-Driven Water Management: Our platform's GeoJSON export and statistics dashboard (total detected, collected, verified debris; monthly detection trends; collection rates) give environmental agencies actionable intelligence on pollution patterns. Municipalities can identify which rivers, ports, or coastlines are chronic sources of plastic input and target infrastructure investments (e.g., river barriers, waste management upgrades) accordingly.

3. Verified Cleanup = Measurable Impact: Unlike awareness campaigns, PlasticPatrol provides satellite-verified proof that water bodies are actually getting cleaner. Each verified cleanup is a data point that feeds back into our system — confirmed clean zones are deprioritized in future scans, allowing satellite resources to focus on new pollution fronts.

4. Scalable Citizen Infrastructure: By gamifying cleanup through eco-points and leaderboards, we transform every smartphone user near a coastline into a potential water quality agent. The reserve-collect-verify cycle ensures accountability: you have 24 hours to act on your reservation, photo proof is ML-verified, and the satellite delivers final confirmation.

5. Coastal & Open Water Coverage: Our system distinguishes between beach debris (manual reports, instant verification by authorized personnel) and ocean debris (satellite-detected, requires satellite re-verification). This dual approach addresses both coastal zone management and open water pollution monitoring, covering the full lifecycle of marine plastic.

Team

Tech Stack: Python (FastAPI, SQLAlchemy, GeoAlchemy2) · Angular 21 · Leaflet · PostGIS · TensorFlow/Keras · Sentinel Hub API · Copernicus Data Space