A robot is being used to remove microplastics and other debris from beaches in our region. The BeachBot (BeBot) is a beach cleaning machine that reveals how much debris humans leave behind. “There are a lot of interesting materials,” explained Bennett Toman, who operates the BeBot using remote control. “The number one find for us is definitely a lot of cigarette butts. Number two is a lot of bottle caps, but we’ve also found plastic containers, a lot of tent rods as well as cigarette lighters. And there are a lot of different microplastics as well.” The robot is funded by Pollution Probe, an environmental agency that until now has focused on sifting debris from the water. With the Bebot, the organization has revealed what lies beneath the sand. The device was first rolled onto an Ontario beach in the GTA in 2025 where it uncovered more than 33,000 pieces of litter. Pollution Probe’s Melissa DeYoung said the BeBot is touring new areas of the province, including several weeks in Port Burwell Provincial Park. “It would be fantastic to see these elsewhere, and we’d love to have them across the country. I think that plastic pollution is a huge complex issue and it differs very much from location to location.” While the BeBot collects the debris, volunteers are still needed to sift through what it finds. On this day, volunteers from London-area Rotary International Clubs stepped up to support their mission to improve the environment, explained member Steve Knox. “We need to get people aware when they see a plastic bottle on the street that it’s going down the sewer, going into the stream, goes on to the next river, and goes into the next lake.” Data collected on the beach in Port Burwell will be included in a report to measure the impact of debris and microplastics along the Great Lakes shorelines in both Canada and the U.S.
