Mercury Introduces a V10 5.7 L Outboard
SUZUKI takes the lead in the 115/140hp category
Mercury Introduces a V10 5.7 L Outboard
SUZUKI takes the lead in the 115/140hp category
Suzuki introduces world’s first Micro-Plastic Collecting Device
Did you know that there are 500 times more microplastic particles in the oceans than the stars in our galaxy?
It is estimated that around 27 million tons of plastics are produced just in Europe, the largest percentage of which ends up mainly in the marine environment.
The microplastic particles in the seas exceed 51 trillion, while many researches conducted by various institutes show that almost 100% of fish and marine invertebrates contained microscopic plastic fibers in their stomachs.
These findings confirm the fact that microplastics enter the food chain and of course the toxic substances they contain are harmful both to mammals and to humans who consume them.
Microplastics are a visible threat, but even more dangerous are the tiny fibers of plastic that, although often invisible, easily enter the food chain. The worrying thing is that the number of microplastics contained in marine ecosystems is expected to increase exponentially in the coming years.
Suzuki is leading the way once again by putting a small stone in the face of this huge problem by launching the world's first microplastics filter that comes as standard equipment on selected outboard engines.
So from July 2022, 5 Suzuki models (DF140BG, DF115BG, DF140B, DF115B and DF100C) started to be produced with the cleaning device as standard equipment.
Mark Beeley, Head of Marine & ATV for Suzuki GB, said, “This marks the first time in marine industry history that an outboard motor cooling system has been utilized to extract micro-plastics from the seawater. So we are really excited by this announcement and I must commend the factory on this ground-breaking development which is part of Suzuki’s continuing determination to devise innovative solutions that mitigate the serious impact of plastic waste on our natural environment.”
How does it work
Under the cowl of the above Suzuki engines is installed a device that collects microplastic waste from the return water of the cooling system. Through this device, microplastic waste can be simply collected during engine operation, before returning to the sea.
The device can be easily installed in the return hose ensuring that it has no negative impact on the engine's cooling capacity or performance when driving, as it only uses the return water that has already been used to cool the engine.
After extensive testing in Japan, the device successfully collected microplastics from the sea. The filtration system has already been shown to retain many different types of particulate pollution, including urethane, nylon, and wood chips, among others.
The installation of this device on outboard motors is one of the three activities of the SUZUKI CLEAN OCEAN PROJECT, which is Suzuki's commitment to address the issue of marine plastics.
The other two concern:
- Clean-Up the World campaign
A voluntary beach cleaning campaign by Suzuki Group employees and partners, conducted since 2010. By March 2022, 53 dealers and more than 13,000 people worldwide have participated in total.
- Reduction of plastic packaging
Suzuki aims to reduce plastic packaging for outboard motors and genuine spare parts, replacing it with materials with a lower environmental impact. Since October 2020, the use of more than 11 tons of plastic packaging has been avoided. Suzuki aims to further reduce plastics by increasing the number of suitable products and genuine spare parts.
