using motors.

facian～One innovation at a time～
Social Background and Motivation
In the past 65 years, plastic production
worldwide has spiked from 2 million tons
to over 300 million tons annually (4). Verylittle plastic is recycled, resulting in several
million tons of plastic entering the ocean
each year, harming the environment andmarine life. In order to alleviate theproblem of the debris in the ocean, ourprimary focus is collecting floating plastic,
which includes ​polypropylene (​PP),
polyethylene (PE), and ​expanded
polystyrene ​(EPS) (5).
Target CustomerOur target customer is the local
governments of Japan in the coastal
regions, until we can expand to countries
such as China as our product gains funds
to promote and produce our product on agrander scale.
Product and System Details
Aquaficent is a two-part system; thecollecting of plastics and the separating
and processing of plastics. PP, PE, andEPS plastics are collected by the machine,by taking in plastics on and near thesurface of the water and disposing of all
water that got sucked in. To elucidate,
Aquaficent takes advantage of the ocean’scurrent, which sweeps plastics into the 3
meter wide opening of the machine,
making the collection process eco-friendly
and energy-efficient. Created fromaluminized steel which floats, this machineis 3 21 meters high, 5 meters long, and 3
meters wide, and propels itself around

After collection, the plastics aretransported to the main body of theAquaficent, a facility where the plastics are
sorted into two sections located on shore,
then processed. Aquaficent takes care of
PP and PE plastics collected, which arepure hydrocarbons, by sending them to
Plastic to Fuel companies to convert ourplastic into fuel. The process isenvironmentally friendly, since the ​plastics
are shredded and then melted in anoxygen-free vacuum chamber, so it does
not require combustion that releases
toxins (2).​ Since the EPS cannot be
converted into fuel, it is instead processedby mealworms, a type of worm that eatsplastics and turns them into castings (1).
The castings produced is sold to farmers,
to be used for growing their crops, further
aiding the environment by turning carbon
dioxide from the air into oxygen.

Aquaficent is powered by a system thatfirst splits seawater into liquified hydrogen(H​2​) and oxygen (O​2)​ . The two elementsare then combined in a process called
PEMFC (Proton exchange membrane fuelcell) to produce energy, and releases
water as the only waste product, making
this process extremely eco-friendly. Thissource produces more than 5 times theenergy of solar power, and is morecost-effective, hence it is a better option
than other renewable sources.
Competition
Our main competition is a company called
The Ocean CleanUp, which utilizes thewind and current to round up plastics nearthe Great Pacific Garbage Patch (3).
However, this system is currently out ofcommission, because it failed to gather
plastic waste. Moreover, the company
takes the plastic gathered and recycles itto make products. In contrast, ourcompany transforms the plastic using
eco-friendly methods, and the end productties directly into helping the environment,
rather than make products that will in time,
be thrown away and continue the cycle ofwaste instead of finding a sustainable
solution, unlike the Aquaficent.
Marketing Strategy​
We created 150 Aquaficent systems forthe first year, of which only the part thatcollects plastic is rented out to Japan’s
coastal governments that have the worst
ocean litter problems for 1~2 months until
the majority of their plastic is collected,
and then we rent to other governments inJapan. We take care of all the collected
plastic, so it is unnecessary forgovernments that are renting our productto worry about what to do with the plastic
collected, by using the system thatcategorizes the PP and PE plastics fromthe EPS plastics that is owned by ourcompany. Our advertisement is throughFacebook, as well as directly asking
governments in Japan who are in coastal
areas whether they would like to utilize ourproduct.

Financial Plan
By using aluminized steel, PEMFC fuelcells, the EPS sorting machine, worms,
and motors our unit cost became
2,723,836 yen. Our production cost will
decrease because we will only be making
50 more facilities per year but continue
renting out the 150 facilities we alreadyhave.​We will be earning more profit fromthe castings that the mealworms produce
as well as the plastic we sell to fuelcompanies. We will be profiting by thesecond year and will be paying back loans
in the second and third year.

Bibliography
1. ​Badore, Margaret. “Mealworms Can Eat
an All-Plastic Diet and Not Die.”
TreeHugger​, Treehugger, 11 Oct. 2018,www.treehugger.com/animals/mealwormscan-eat-all-plastic-diet-and-not-die.html.
2. Keiren, et al. “Plastic to Fuel.”
Insteading​, 9 Feb. 2018,
insteading.com/blog/plastic-to-fuel/.
3. Ocean Cleanup. “The Ocean Cleanup
Technology.” ​The Ocean Cleanup​,
www.theoceancleanup.com/technology/.
4. Ritchie, Hannah, and Max Roser.
“Plastic Pollution.” ​Our World in Data​, 1
Sept. 2018,
ourworldindata.org/plastic-pollution.
5. “Which Plastics Float and Which Sink in
Seawater? | GRID-Arendal.” ​GRID​,
www.grida.no/resources/6930.