As part of an ocean conservation project, Volvo has created the Living Seawall in collaboration with the Sydney Institute of Marine Science and Reef Design Lab.
“Designed to mimic the root structure of native mangrove trees, the Living Seawall adds complexity to the existing seawall structure and provides a habitat for marine life,” said Volvo. “This aids biodiversity and attracts filter-feeding organisms that actually absorb and filter out pollutants – such as particulate matter and heavy metals – keeping the water ‘clean’. The more organisms we have, the cleaner the water.”
According to Volvo, a garbage truck full of plastic enters the ocean every minute. With marine habitats being replaced with seawalls due to degradation by plastic pollution, it is said that more than half of Sydney’s shoreline artificial made. Stating how the plastic in the ocean is “not feasible to remove it all” and that tearing down the seawalls isn’t a viable option, Volvo says that the Living Seawall is a product of “modern, divergent thinking”.
“Volvo’s Living Seawall shows what can be done when we’re designing and building coastal structures around the world. It’s about making these structures as beneficial to the environment as possible,” said Alex Goad, Industrial Designer at Reef Design Lab. “Living Seawall flips a harmful structure into a marine habitat and presents a unique opportunity to research which specific designs and geometries are the best to support the ecosystems in our oceans.”
Installing 50 3D printed tiles on the seawall structure in Sydney Harbour, researchers will be monitoring the Living Seawalls for the next 20 years.
“The comprehensive monitoring and evaluation program that accompanies the installation will provide important information on the environmental benefits of adding surface area and complexity to enhance the existing seawalls and will provide the basis for expanding to further seawall sites in Sydney,” said Associate Professor Melanie Bishop from the Sydney Institute of Marine Science and Macquarie University.
Committed to building a sustainable future with projects such as the Living Seawall, Volvo has pledged to remove all single-use plastics from their offices, canteens and events by 2019 and has also announced plans to put 1 million electric cars on the road by 2025.
“There’s a Swedish word, omtanke, that means ‘caring’ and ‘consideration’,” said Nick Connor, Managing Director of Volvo Car Australia. “I think that really captures what we’re trying to achieve with the Living Seawall, and it sums up Volvo’s approach to sustainability in general. We’re always trying to rethink, reinvent, redesign for the better.”
