Kailua man targets microplastics in beach campaign

You may have seen him on the beach in Windward Oahu pushing a strange contraption that resembles a wheelbarrow.

That’s Ray Aivazian III, and he and his crew are on a mission to demonstrate how easy it is to rid beaches of microplastic.

The former Kaneohe Marine has invented a microplastic removal machine, created a website and aims to launch a movement against the wave of microplastics washing ashore.

“Plastics are killing everything in our ocean, including us,” Aivazian says. “This material isn’t going away on its own. It’s going to last a very long time. We have to reduce the damage we cause.”

Originally from Chino Hills, Calif., Aivazian joined the Marines in 2009 and was stationed at Camp Pendleton, Calif., for four years, then at Kaneohe for four years. Last year he left the Marine Corps and began attending classes at Windward Community College with the goal of earning a degree in global environmental science from the University of Hawaii. He also does house cleaning on the side.

A spear fisherman and body surfer from Kailua, Aivazian has always had a passion for the ocean and participated in organized beach cleanups after arriving on Oahu in 2013.

But it was the smallest of the plastics, scattered on the beach and trying to pose as sand, that especially bothered him.

The problem with plastic, he says, is that it doesn’t decompose the way organic material does. When it gets into the ocean, it only breaks down over time into smaller and smaller pieces, which can be easily be mistaken for food by fish and other marine wildlife.

Some microplastics have been shown to emit harmful gases, according to a UH study. Some can leach toxins that get into the bodies of the animals that consume them, leading to debilitating physical issues and potential problems for humans as it moves up the food chain.

It’s a worldwide problem. A recent study from Austria found microplastics in human stool samples from a variety of countries around the world.

“Microplastics are a really big deal,” Aivazian says. “There hasn’t been a single species of aquatic life found that doesn’t have plastics inside of its body.”

Microplastic is also being found in most of the salt we consume, he added.

“So not only are we getting it through that food source, but through all of the fish that eat it, too.”

In Hawaii the ocean currents generally push tons of floating plastics that eventually come to rest on windward shores.

Those who target the smaller plastics use screens or sifters, Aivazian said, but they don’t capture the smallest of the small pieces.

In September it occurred to him that he might be able to do something about it. He started to engineer a machine to collect the microplastics at the beach. He also established SEED, a public service organization that, like its name, is something small he hopes will grow into something big.

“I want to scale up and grow in awareness and knowledge. It’s really important.”

A handful of friends and volunteers have joined him on his microplastic cleanup runs on the Windward coast.

His first plastics-removal invention was essentially a wheelbarrow with a fish tank and filters. It used water and gravity to separate the itty-bitty plastics from the clean sand.

It worked so well, he put an image of the machine, its parts and and how much it cost on his website — seed.world — with instructions on how to build it. The cost: $383.30.

“Anyone in the world can create it,” he says. “This is all material anyone can gather. There is no cutting involved, no gluing, no special tools.”

Aivazian is now working on an updated four-wheeled prototype that can be moved down the beach like a lawn mower while sifting through the top two inches of sand.

Aivazian says he isn’t looking to get rich — just to get rid of the microplastics and improve the environment.

“We have to, or this stuff is going to just sit there and build up. It needs to be done to reduce the damage we have caused,” he says.