According to our projections, we expect to be able to clean the entire Great Pacific Garbage Patch (containing 100,000,000kg of plastic) using ten systems based on System 03.
BREAKING: more than 100,000kg of plastic removed from the Great Pacific Garbage Patch (GPGP).
Thank you to our determined offshore crew and supporters worldwide; together, we have now officially cleaned up 1/1000th of the GPGP.
On October 11 we extracted the largest single catch for System 002 to-date; 10,086 kg of plastic removed from the Great Pacific Garbage Patch after only 6.5 days, bringing us to a total of 145,518 kg extracted so far.
We've just improved on our single largest System 002 catch record. On October 24, we extracted 10,755 kg of plastic from the Great Pacific Garbage Patch after less than five days.
This week we had our largest ever extraction from the Great Pacific Garbage Patch: 11,353 kg of plastic out of the ocean for good.
As we transition to System 03, we see that increasing system size leads to bigger catches.
Another milestone in Guatemala: we have now removed over one thousand truckloads of trash from the Rio Las Vacas. 🇬🇹
This is our toughest river challenge so far, but we’re continually working to improve Interceptor 006 and keep tons of plastic from entering the Caribbean Sea.
Another flood in Guatemala and another 140 tons of trash (37 truckloads!) intercepted and extracted from the Rio Las Vacas - all prevented from reaching the Caribbean Sea.
BREAKING: we are now testing our Interceptor Trashfence in Guatemala's Rio Motagua Basin home to what we believe to be the world's most polluting river.
Another day, another plastic extraction in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch; sometimes System 002 retention zone needs a little hand to get emptied, but another 6319kg of plastic is out of the ocean for good.
Interceptor 006 has successfully prevented around 3,000,000 kg of trash (and counting) from reaching the Caribbean Sea in the last five months.
As the end of the flooding season in Guatemala approaches, we continue to capture and extract trash with every rainstorm.
Latest extraction: over 16,000 kg (35,000 lbs) of plastic out of the ocean to be recycled into durable, sustainable products so it never re-enters the marine environment again.
A step closer to making System 03 a reality:
Airbnb and Samara co-founder
@jgebbia
has donated $25m to The Ocean Cleanup, helping us continue and expand operations across oceans, rivers, recycling, and scientific research – and to support the launch of System 03 later this year.
BREAKING: the final test of System 002 is completed, and we have another big catch on deck. The Great Pacific Garbage Patch can now be cleaned.
The crew is already sorting the catch, and lots of information is still to be processed. Stay tuned!
BREAKING: We just made our largest ever plastic catch. Interceptor 006 in the Rio Las Vacas, Guatemala, stopped 272 truckloads of trash - equal to 1.4 million kg (3.1 million lbs) - from flowing into the Caribbean Sea. All in a single evening.
INTERCEPTOR 006: BIGGEST CATCH SO FAR
On Monday, July 31, we hit a new record in the Rio Las Vacas, Guatemala: 85 truckloads of trash removed and prevented from reaching the Caribbean Sea - all in a single day.
Here's the footage of our latest System 002 plastic extraction from December 5th and the last one for the year, as our crew is returning to port today.
As we approach the end of 2022, System 002 has cleaned up a total of 193,826 kg of plastic from the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.
Today we reached an exciting milestone: over 100,000kg of plastic removed from the Great Pacific Garbage Patch - more than the combined weight of two and a half Boeing 737-800s. Here's Boyan illustrating what this looks like in terms of plastic we extracted from the GPGP:
UPDATE: Interceptor Barricade is now operational, and we have extracted over 850,000 kg of trash in the last few weeks.
Now we await the real test: a heavy flood and a trash tsunami bringing hundreds of tons of plastic in just a few hours to fully validate our solution.
We received some news from local operators in Klang, Malaysia - on December 19th, Interceptor 002's six dumpsters were completely filled up in a record time of 2 hours and 27min. In total, this hero removed 107,000 kg ( 235,935 lbs) of trash in December.
Another milestone - 157 offloads of 942 dumpsters later, Interceptor 002 has now removed over 1,000,000 kilograms of trash (and two "bears") from River Klang, Malaysia.🇲🇾
BREAKING: 200,000 kg of plastic extracted from the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.
System 002/B has made its first extraction of 2023 - 6260 kg of plastic out of the GPGP, bringing us to an exciting milestone - together, we have cleaned up over 200,000 kg of plastic from the GPGP.
System 002/A keeps on cleaning - over 6.9 tons of plastic removed from the Great Pacific Garbage Patch in less than 4 days. The new larger Retention Zone is working well, our efficiency and catch figures are improving, and we are continuing our transition to System 03.
Another big week cleaning the GPGP - two trips, two more loads of plastic (one 5685kg, the other 3507kg) removed from the ocean. System 002 is now in transit back to port for a crew change before we come back and do it all again.
Here is one of our latest extractions from the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.
The Great Pacific Garbage Patch can be cleaned in 10 years for 7.5B USD. The only thing standing between the world and a clean ocean is money. It’s time for action.
This year we crossed a significant milestone - over 2,000,000 kg of trash removed from oceans and rivers.
A lot of work, challenges and team determination went into reaching this milestone; check out our highlights from 2022: .
That moment when you have to give a serious presentation and you are interrupted by a teddy bear. If this bear is yours, do feel free to reach out to us.
Here’s a look at what happens once the plastic is extracted from the ocean: the crew pre-sorts it into fibrous and rigid plastic on deck, and once it’s back onshore, it will be recycled and transformed into new products.
Here’s what 10,755 kg of trash pulled out of the ocean looks like on deck; in total, System 002 has cleaned up 169,565 kg from the Great Pacific Garbage Patch so far. There’s still a long way to go, but we expect to deploy System 002/B again later this week.
Clear blue skies and calm waters, perfect conditions to perform the first installation of System 001 at the test site. The Pacific Trial phase has begun.
Happening now: We have arrived at the deployment location in the heart of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, and the crew is putting the system into its designated U-shape. The operation is going smoothly. More updates to come.
.
@coldplay
continues to support The Ocean Cleanup’s mission to rid the oceans of plastic by adopting their second Interceptor, Interceptor 020, aka Neon Moon II, to be deployed in Cisadane River in Jakarta. 🇮🇩
Here’s the footage of extraction no. 78 and possibly the last extraction with System 002/C, as the crew is carefully taking the final steps to complete the transition to System 03, our biggest system yet.
System 03 - or Josh - has performed its first plastic extraction in the GPGP - the first of many to come!
A promising start - more extractions coming soon as we optimize and test System 03 on its maiden trip.
@carroll_annie
The system is placed on the surface of the ocean and moves at an extremely slow speed. The retention zone is equipped with a quick-release mechanism and underwater cameras. Crew members are 24/7 on the watch out and ready to intervene if necessary. Learn more on our website!
Another important moment in the Plastic Journey: we have successfully finalized the recycling step. This is the first time that plastic from the Great Pacific Garbage Patch has been recycled into plastic granulate.
We have removed over 8,000,000 kg (17.8m lb) of trash from the oceans and rivers worldwide. As a non-profit organization, it’s your donations, big and small, that make this happen. Thank YOU.
You can help clean our oceans, too, by donating here: .
INTERCEPTOR 006: We’re wasting no time in Guatemala. 🇬🇹
As we assemble the Interceptor Barricade, we’re removing the trash that’s already built up to free up space. We’re hoping to capture many times more once the floods arrive and Interceptor 006 is fully operational.
Another 6820kg out of the ocean marks Jenny’s 23rd extraction so far and the last one before heading back to port for a crew change and offload. System 002's total catch is 55,020kg so far; 1/1500th of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.
LATEST: The first flush of 2024’s rainy season and Interceptor 006 is already preventing tons of trash from flowing into the Caribbean Sea from the Rio Las Vacas, Guatemala.
Will this be our largest river catch ever? Keep an eye on our channels while our crew works round the
In the past month, we have collected over 1.5m kg of trash with Interceptor 006 in Guatemala. 🇬🇹
We are still learning from operating in this harsh environment, but we’ll build on this positive start and keep optimizing the Interceptor Barricade for this one-of-a-kind river.
Another strong performance from Interceptor 007, capturing plastic to keep it out of the Pacific Ocean and away from the coastlines of LA County during last weekend's storms in California.
Our operators are offloading and confirming the total amount caught - stay tuned.
System 002/C has been deployed at its full length of 1758m and has steadily been collecting plastic in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, totaling 21,143 kg this trip so far.
Here are the three most recent extractions:
The first extraction with System 03 this year: 7029 kg of plastic out of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.
We will use this plastic batch for research back on shore - analyzing every single piece for clues such as bite marks, brands, and production dates. (1/4)
You asked for it - here it is. For the first time in history, tomorrow we will attempt to livestream a plastic extraction directly from the Great Pacific Garbage Patch - over 2400 km (1500 miles) from civilization. More details to follow.
This is what 9000kg of ocean plastic looks like inside the retention zone and on deck.
It’s no longer in the ocean, and next week, we’ll bring it to shore so it can’t pose a threat to the environment ever again.
The Ocean Cleanup's first cleanup system, System 001, is now on route into the Pacific Ocean. Follow our progress over the next months as we head to the middle of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.
Another Interceptor Tender offload in Kingston, Jamaica, adding to the thousands of kilos of trash removed so far! We're up to five Interceptors across the city - and we're not done yet. Stay tuned for more deployments soon as we continue working to transform Kingston Harbour.
Today YouTubers
@MrBeast
and
@MarkRober
launched the
#TeamSeas
campaign to remove 30M pounds of trash.
The Ocean Cleanup and
@OurOcean
were chosen as the non-profit partners for cleaning up trash in rivers, oceans, and beaches. Every $1 donated = 1lb of trash removed.
Some of the crew are location scouting for the next Interceptor deployment in Malaysia. This is the Tebrau River and, according to our model, it’s the 53rd most polluted river in the world.
For the first time, we can put a price tag on cleaning up the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. We now call upon the world - governments, companies, individuals - to make this cleanup happen.
UPDATE: the transition from System 002 to System 03 — three times bigger, and our blueprint for scale-up — is about to begin.
Watch our full video update about System 03 development and where, when, and how it will be helping rid the oceans of plastic: .
Here's another look at the latest trash flush in Guatemala, where Interceptor 006 captured 272 truckloads (1.4 million kg / 3.1 million lbs) of trash in one night.
Offshore crew pre-sorting System 002 catch on November 28 into fibrous and rigid plastics; another 6196kg of plastic is now permanently out of the ocean.
After two trips, our offshore crew is on their way back to port with a massive haul of plastic: over 55,000 kg out of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch and going back to shore for recycling - to keep it out of our oceans permanently.
While making adjustments to our cleanup system, the crew took the opportunity to recover this large ghostnet drifting by. Note: ghostnets account for 46% of the total mass of plastic in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.
One of the latest offloads of Interceptor 002 in River Klang, Malaysia brings its total catch to 2,168,000 kg / 4,780,440 lbs (for reference - equivalent to the weight of almost 12 jumbo jets).
System 001 has been launched into the Pacific. The world’s first ocean cleanup system will head to its testing site, before continuing its journey to the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. For a recap of the launch visit:
Interceptor 007 has prevented more than 35,000 lbs (15,875 kg) of waste from reaching the Pacific Ocean so far.
See the full video on how Interceptor 007 handled the first rains of the storm season and some of LA County residents' reactions: .
A new step in our global partnership with
@coldplay
: a limited ‘Notebook Edition’ LP release of their latest album “Moon Music” will be made using river plastic we intercepted in the Rio Las Vacas in Guatemala.🇬🇹
Colder months bring more challenging conditions offshore, but System 03 keeps cleaning the Great Pacific Garbage Patch - this time, the crew removed another 11,874 kg of trash from the ocean.
Would you like to see this live?