There’s a similar concept to this, but it sits passively near the delta of a rivers end. It has nets that span from one bank to the other with the boat moored at the center of the river, so the nets kind of funnel the trash to the boat, which then scoops it all up.

It’s mostly used when there’s a lot of rainfall that washes debris into the river, as kind of a stop gap to prevent more plastic going out into the ocean where it’s harder to recover. Finding the “bottle necks” for plastic pollution seems like a good strategy, even if the oceans themselves still need major work and we need to stop plastic pollution at its sources.

I think it also gives people a visual that they see in their daily life, so they can conceptualize how much waste is out there.