Every year, millions of tons of plastic enter the oceans, of which the majority spills out from rivers. A portion of this plastic travels to ocean garbage patches, getting caught in a vortex of circulating currents. If no action is taken, the plastic will increasingly impact our ecosystems, health, and economies.
Solving it requires a combination of closing the source and cleaning up what has already accumulated in the ocean and doesn’t go away by itself.
Passive cleanup method
The Ocean Cleanu
p is developing a passive cleanup method, which uses the natural oceanic forces to rapidly and cost-effectively clean up the plastic already in the oceans. With a full fleet of cleanup systems in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, we aim to clean up 50% of its plastic every five years.
Intercept plastic in rivers
The Ocean Cleanup has developed the first scalable solution to efficiently intercept plastic in rivers before it reaches the oceans. By placing Interceptors in 1000 strategic locations in rivers around the world, we aim to halt 80% of plastic from entering the oceans in five years’ time.
The inventor
Boyan Slat. Inventor since birth. Founded The Ocean Cleanup at age 18. Youngest ever recipient of the UN’s highest environmental accolade; Champion of the Earth in 2015. Awarded the maritime industry’s Young Entrepreneur Award in 2015 by HM King Harald of Norway.
Chosen as European of the Year by Readers Digest in 2017. Member of the Thiel Fellowship.
Find more on: https://theoceancleanup.com/
