HUNTINGTON BEACH, Calif. — Huntington Beach has been using a new tool to help clean up trash and plastic that can collect in Huntington Harbour. It looks like a robot-like-mini-boat on flotations that can zigzag the waterway on its own through autonomous software or someone who operates it via a remote control.

Clean Earth Rovers has been doing twice weekly cleanups of the area since Feb. 1 as part of a two-month pilot program. So far the company estimates it has collected 300 gallons of debris.

CEO Michael Arens, who grew up in St. Louis, said he first became aware of plastic pollution in the ocean during senior year of high school. After hearing a speech by a classmate on the topic, he said he became obsessed with finding a solution to a problem he didn’t even know existed before the age of 18.

Huntington Beach is the first city in Southern California to use one of the company’s rovers to help clean up trash in the waterways. Huntington Beach’s Environmental Services Manager, Jim Merid, said the rover will help get the trash and debris that can collect in the nooks and crannies of the harbour that can be difficult to reach with the current tools they use.

He said the trash that gets stuck needs to be collected before it sinks to the bottom of the water or breaks up and heads to the ocean. The rover is being used in combination with a boat that is equipped to pick up trash in the open waterway.

Clean Earth Rovers said the machines cost $30,000 or the company can be hired to operate it at a cost of about $300 per site per day.