MAS Holdings Ocean Strainer named finalist at ‘World Changing Ideas Awards’

MAS Ocean Strainer waste collection and removal in progress

The winners of Fast Company’s 2022 World Changing Ideas Awards were announced, honouring clean technology, innovative corporate initiatives, brave new designs for cities and buildings, and other creative works that are supporting the growth of positive social innovation, tackling social inequality, climate change, and public health crises. 

MAS Holdings Ocean Strainer was named a finalist in the Water category as a part of the 2022 World Changing Ideas Awards. The ‘Ocean Strainer’ is a pilot floating trash trap installed in the Dehiwala canal in Colombo, Sri Lanka and has expanded to eight other locations through open-source partnerships across the country since its inception in August 2020. 

Research showed that rivers and canals are the sources of 80 percent of the plastic that reaches the ocean. Therefore, the team at MAS Holdings needed to address the marine plastic issue at the source by trapping and removing the waste before it reaches the ocean. The result was the Ocean Strainer, a barrier made from a buoyant foam and canvas that floats across the length of the canal and traps plastic waste before reaching the ocean through the canal mouth.

The waste is collected daily by an appointed resource person from the community along the canal, and project partners, Clean Ocean Force and the local Provincial Council support the collection and disposal of garbage. 
With 100 km of the canal network in Sri Lanka, canals provided an opportunity to develop an innovative yet simple solution that could be low cost and easily replicated across locations to create greater impact. 

Now in its sixth year, the World Changing Ideas Awards showcase 39 winners, 350 finalists, and more than 600 honourable mentions—with climate, social justice, and AI and data among the most popular categories. 

A panel of eminent Fast Company editors and reporters selected winners and finalists from a pool of more than 2,997 entries across transportation, education, food, politics, technology, health, social justice, and more. In addition, several new categories have been added this year, including climate, nature, water, and workplace. The 2022 awards feature entries from across the globe, from Switzerland to Hong Kong to Australia.

“We are thrilled to have the MAS Ocean Strainer be recognized as one of Fast Company’s World Changing Ideas. Coming from an island nation where the beaches have been our childhood playground, all of us at MAS feel very strongly about our responsibility to address the issue of marine plastic pollution,” said Sid Amalean, Head of Sustainable Business at MAS Holdings.