The Ocean Cleanup

The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is the largest accumulation of floating ocean plastic in the world, containing approximately 100,000 tonnes of plastic (equivalent to more than 740 Boeing 777s). It is located halfway between Hawaii and California, over 2400 km (1500 miles) from civilization. Our offshore crew spends seven weeks at a time in the GPGP; we asked them what's the hardest part of their job and why they do it:

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.

Yesterday, The Ocean Cleanup vessels returned to San Francisco with tons of trash onboard and exciting news on what it will concretely take to clean up the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. The real-world performance of System 03 during the past 12 months has demonstrated that the Great Pacific Garbage Patch can be cleaned in 10 years’ time at a cost of 7.5 billion dollars. In the meantime, to accelerate the cleanup, we are developing methods to use GPS trackers and directly measure plastic concentrations with drones: hotspot hunting. We now have the technology to clean up the Great Pacific Garbage Patch; the only thing standing between the world and clean oceans is money. So we call upon the world—the governments, the companies, and the individuals—to make this cleanup happen.

It’s been six years since we launched the world’s first cleanup system from San Francisco to the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. Next week, The Ocean Cleanup vessels return to SF with System 03, tons of trash onboard, and exciting news to share. Share this post, invite your network, and tune in live on September 6th at 9 PM (CEST) | 3 PM (EST) | 12 PM (PDT): theoceancleanup.com/live

In 2018, we sailed out of San Francisco Bay with one goal: to create technology to clean up the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. Six years later, we are returning to San Francisco with our cleanup system, System 03, and exciting news to share with the world. Set a reminder & tune in LIVE:

Another day in the office for System 03 in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. 🌊 Some facts: The Great Pacific Garbage Patch (GPGP) is the largest accumulation of floating ocean plastic in the world. GPGP is located halfway between Hawaii and California. The GPGP covers an estimated surface area twice the size of Texas or three times the size of France. System 03 is big. It has a floating barrier approximately 2.2 km (1.4 miles) long. So far, we've cleaned up over 445,000 kg / 981,000 lbs of plastic, but there's still a long way to go. Follow the exact location and impact of System 03: https://lnkd.in/eq7Xceth

NOW HIRING: Ocean Microplastics Research Intern In this internship, you will be responsible for the analysis of trawl samples collected from the Great Pacific Garbage Patch in our laboratory in Rotterdam. Your results will be used to elevate our understanding of plastic transport and fate in the marine environment. Learn more and apply on our website:

LATEST: we are deploying a second Interceptor in Guatemala, hoping to restore one of the most plastic-polluted places on earth - the Gulf of Honduras, to its original state. Our first Interceptor, Interceptor 006, was deployed in Guatemala’s Rio Las Vacas in 2023. Since then, it has prevented over 10,000,000 kg of trash (equivalent to over 2200 truckloads) from flowing to the Gulf of Honduras. We estimate that we are currently stopping about 60-70% of the pollution, and hope that the addition of Interceptor 021 will help to address the remaining leakage. Learn more: https://lnkd.in/eprJQkEn.

We are back in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch and System 03 is deployed once again. Coordinates: 29°51.9' N / 147°57.6' W. You can follow the exact location of System 03 (and our impact) on our website: https://lnkd.in/eq7Xceth.

Is there life among the plastic in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch? GPGP is located over 2400 km (1500 miles) from civilization and is home to an estimated 100,000 tons of plastic debris, but also to floating life known as neuston, a collective of species living at the sea surface. Our cleanup operations present a unique opportunity to collect data from this remote region, helping us understand the ecosystem of this area and how we can maximize the ecological benefits of our offshore cleanup activities. Our new research provides important insights into neuston dynamics in the patch. The study reveals no elevated densities of neuston within plastic hotspots in the GPGP. In other words, while the hotspot territory contains more plastic, it does not contain more neuston. Learn more: https://lnkd.in/gjyierdU