Systems, apparatus and methods capable of collecting and processing floating solid materials

A system for processing floating solid debris recovered from a body of water on a vessel, the vessel having at least one chamber, at least one intake opening fluidly coupled to the at least one chamber and through which water enters the at least one chamber from the body of water and at least one discharge port fluidly coupled to the at least one chamber and through which at least some processed solid debris exits the at least one chamber, each item of floating solid debris having an original respective size, the system comprising:

• a first debris processor disposed on the vessel between the at least one intake opening and the at least one discharge port and configured to fragment floating solid debris from the body of water into fragments, each solid debris fragment having a fragmented size that is smaller than the original size of the solid debris from which it was fragmented;
• and
• a second debris processor disposed on the vessel between the first debris processor and the at least one discharge port and configured to receive solid debris fragments fragmented by the first debris processor and re-fragment at least some of the received fragments into a size that is smaller than the fragmented size thereof and allow at least some of the re-fragmented solid debris to enter the at least one discharge port,
• wherein the at least one chamber of the vessel includes at least first and second chambers, the first chamber being an inflow chamber positioned proximate to the at least one intake opening and the second chamber being a main cargo compartment fluidly coupled between the inflow chamber and at least one discharge port, and wherein the first debris processor is configured to fragment solid debris before it enters the main cargo compartment and the second debris processor is configured to re-fragment at least some of the solid debris fragments received thereby from the main cargo compartment and before the solid debris fragments enter the at least one discharge port.