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Plastic extraction from System 002, The Ocean Cleanup’s ocean system cleaning the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. Many crates and buoys originating from fishing activities can be seen in the catch.
Plastic extraction from System 002, The Ocean Cleanup’s ocean system cleaning the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. Many crates and buoys originating from fishing activities can be seen in the catch.
An item we find in large quantities are eel traps, used for fishing hagfish.
Crew on board the support vessels of System 002, holding up a crate with eel traps. Eel traps is an item we find in large quantities, as are crates.

Plastic extraction from System 002, The Ocean Cleanup’s ocean system cleaning the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. Many crates and buoys originating from fishing activities can be seen in the catch.
Matthias Egger, Ocean Plastic Researcher at The Ocean Cleanup, analyzing plastic items to find clues on their origin based on language and country codes. This research was done in collaboration with Wageningen University.
Matthias Egger, Ocean Plastic Researcher at The Ocean Cleanup, analyzing plastic items to find clues on their origin based on language and country codes.

Left: origins of hard plastics recovered from the Great Pacific Garbage Patch Right: national sources of riverine plastic into global ocean (i.e. not only GPGP)
Age distribution of floating plastic objects found in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. Dots represent relative distribution of global plastic production per decade.²
Composition of hard plastic debris larger than 5 cm (excluding nets and ropes) harvested from the GPGP by System 001/B both (a) by mass and (b) by count.

Analyzing and classifying plastic at Wageningen University
1m01 294,91 MB
Plastic originating from fishing, floating in the GPGP
1m 293,38 MB

Rendering of System 002 compared with System 03. System 03 is 3 times the size of System 002.
Rendering of the Retention Zone of System 03
Full size rendering of System 03
System 03 component production in Lithuania at Mørenot.
System 03 component production in Lithuania at Mørenot.

System 03 component production in Lithuania at Mørenot.
System 03 Transition Roadmap

Interceptor 006 attempts to halt a trash tsunami, Rio Las Vacas, Guatemala
Interceptor 006 in Las Vacas river, Guatemala, during the start of the flash flood. The Ocean Cleanup's first Interceptor Trashfence, piloted in May/June 2022
Interceptor 006 in Las Vacas river, Guatemala, after the flash flood. The Interceptor Trashfence suffered some damage and most of the plastic escaped during the flood.
Interceptor Trashfence being inspected in Guatemala after the flashfloods
Interceptor Trashfence, in Las Vacas river, Guatemala. Damaged after the flash flood.

Interceptor 006, Interceptor Trashfence, in Las Vacas river, Guatemala, after the flash flood
Plastic accumulated along the Interceptor Trashfence, after the flash flood has passed.
Interceptor Trashfence, in Las Vacas river, Guatemala, after the flash flood. Cleanup of remaining plastic.
Boyan Slat, CEO and Founder of The Ocean Cleanup in Rio Las Vacas, Guatemala, one of the most polluted rivers (2021)
Boyan Slat, CEO and Founder of The Ocean Cleanup, in Guatemala
Installation of Interceptor 006, The Ocean Cleanup's first Trashfence. Las Vacas river, Guatemala
Installation of Interceptor 006, The Ocean Cleanup's first Trashfence. Rio Las Vacas, Guatemala
Pollution in Las Vacas River, Guatemala
Aerial view as plastic pollution builds up in the Las Vacas River, Guatemala
A cow among plastic waste in Rio Las Vacas, Guatemala
River plastic in Rio Las Vacas, Guatemala
Plastic pollution on beach next to the river mouth of Motagua river

Interceptor Trashfence's first attempt at stopping plastic Tsunami in the World’s Most Polluting River
3m20 957,78 MB
Timelapse of Guatemala Interceptor Trashfence
2m52 1,28 GB

System 002 deployed for testing in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch
System 002 deployed for testing in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch
System 002 extraction zone hauled on deck for emptying
System 002 extraction zone hauled on deck for emptying
System 002 extraction zone emptied on deck

System 002 extraction zone emptied on deck
Crew sorting plastic on deck after System 002 extraction, October 2021
Crew sorting plastic on deck after System 002 extraction, October 2021
Crew sorting plastic on deck after System 002 extraction, October 2021
Crew sorting plastic on deck after System 002 extraction, October 2021
Plastic catch onboard the support vessels of System 002
Retention zone filled with plastic during the System 002 campaign
Plastic accumulating along the barrier of System 002
Plastic accumulating along the barrier of System 002
Offshore crew investigating the retention zone of System 002
Plastic bottle caught by System 002, with clear degradation signs.
Crew onboard the support vessel during the System 002 trip 1
Crew member onboard the support vessel monitoring System 002 with the help of drone footage.
System 002 in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch

October 20, 2021: Boyan Slat sharing a few words during the Proof of Technology announcement for System 002, The Ocean Cleanup's ocean system.
October 20, 2021: Boyan Slat during the Proof of Technology announcement for System 002, The Ocean Cleanup's ocean system.
October 20: Some of the plastic caught during the System 002 test campaign (July - October) on board one of the Maersk support vessels.
October 20: Boyan Slat watching the offshore crew return to shore with System 002 and the plastic harvested. A marine parade was held in celebration of the successful test campaign of System 002.
October 20: Boyan Slat, CEO and Founder sharing a few words about the test campaign of System 002, how we got here and what the next steps are. System 002 has lead us to proof of technology, and after this short celebration, it will go back out to the Great Pacific Garbage Patch to capture more plastic.

October 20: Boyan Slat, Founder and CEO, greeting the offshore crew that has been in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch for the last 6 to 12 weeks.
October 20: Some of the plastic caught during the System 002 test campaign (July - October) on board one of the Maersk support vessels.
October 20: Some of the plastic caught during the System 002 test campaign (July - October) on board one of the Maersk support vessels.
The offshore crew returning to Victoria, B.C. Canada on the two Maersk support vessels. A marine parade was held in celebration of the successful test campaign of System 002.
The offshore crew returning to Victoria, B.C. Canada on the two Maersk support vessels. A marine parade was held in celebration of the successful test campaign of System 002.

Start of the Cleanup Livestream - Short Cut (October 20)
5m04 593,03 MB
Start of the Cleanup - Full Program (October 20)
19m43 2,24 GB
System 002 Return to Shore Marine Parade (October 20)
2m54 838,68 MB
Plastic Extraction Compilation
0m47 90,38 MB

System 002 Catch Extraction (October 8)
0m59 284,24 MB
Drone Footage of System 002 - Front
0m38 75 MB
Drone Footage of System 002 - Around
0m25 48 MB
System 002 in Sunset
0m32 63 MB
Retention Zone of System 002
0m09 19 MB

Interceptor 004 in the Rio Ozama, Dominican Republic, summer 2020
Interceptor 004 in the Rio Ozama, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, August 2020
Interceptor 004 in the Rio Ozama, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, August 2020
Interceptor 005 deployed in Klang river, Malaysia.
Interceptor 005 in Klang River, Malaysia. Interceptor 005 is our first Gen 3 Interceptor Original deployed.

Interceptor 003 deployed in Can Tho river, Vietnam
Kingston Harbour, Jamaica, Barnes Gully barrier and tender
Kingston Harbour, Jamaica, Barnes Gully barrier
Interceptor 004 in the Rio Ozama, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, August 2020
Boyan Slat on the Interceptor 002 in Klang River, Malaysia
Interceptor™ 002 in Klang river, Selangor, Malaysia
Conveyor belt in Interceptor™ 002 in Klang river, Selangor, Malaysia
Interceptor™ 002 in Klang river, Selangor, Malaysia
Interceptor™ 002 in Klang river, Selangor, Malaysia
Interceptor 001™ in Cengkareng drain, Jakarta, Indonesia

Interceptor™ 008, 009, 010 and Interceptor™ Tender in Kingston Harbour, Jamaica
01m59 380 MB
Interceptor™ 005 in Klang River, Klang, Malaysia
0m59 426,23 MB
Interceptor™ 004 in Rio Ozama, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
1m52 538,52 MB
Interceptor™ 003 in Can Tho River, Vietnam
0m31 151,88 MB

Interceptor™ 002 in Klang River, Klang, Malaysia
1m27 1,90GB
Interceptor™ 001 in Cengkareng drain, Jakarta, Indonesia
0m39 875 MB

Plastic catch sealed off in containers. This is some of our first plastic catch, caught by System 001/B in 2019. The plastic in the end product - the sunglasses - is certified from the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, following a chain of custody protocol by DNV.
Boyan Slat standing with first plastic catch onshore at end of the System 001/B testing. The press conference was in Vancouver, Canada, in December 2019.
DNV Auditor inspecting the pre-sorting of our first plastic catch in February, 2020. The plastic in the end product - the sunglasses - was certified from the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, following a chain of custody protocol by DNV.
Ghost nets being processed for recycling into granulate.
Granulate created from the catch from System 001/B.

Granulate created from the catch from System 001/B
The Ocean Cleanup material ready to be processed into the end product - The Ocean Cleanup Sunglasses
The Ocean Cleanup material made with plastic recycled from the Great Pacific Garbage Patch
Base material creation, July 2020
The Valorization team (The Ocean Cleanup) prototyping the product with Safilo, our sunglasses production partner for the first plastic catch
Protoypes for The Ocean Cleanup sunglasses
The Ocean Cleanup sunglasses with recycled case and pouch
On October 24th, 2020, we unveiled the first product to a digital audience. Supporters unboxed their sunglasses live.
Boyan Slat presenting the sunglasses to an online audience in 2020
Boyan Slat standing with plastic caught during the System 001/B campaign
Boyan Slat presenting The Ocean Cleanup sunglasses, October 24th 2020
The Ocean Cleanup® Sunglasses with case and pouch, made with recycled materials
The Ocean Cleanup sunglasses in their recycled pouch and case
The Ocean Cleanup sunglasses, made with recycled plastic certified from the Great Pacific Garbage Patch

Manufacturing (2020)
1m30 110,71MB
Recycling the plastic (2020)
0m37 182,13MB
Sorting the plastic (2020)
1m05 317,89 MB
First plastic sealed and offloaded (2019)
0m43 85.1MB

Full Circle: How We Turn Trash into Treasure (2020)
5m53 8MB
Full Circle, Explained, animated by in60seconds (2020)
1m48 155,22MB
The Ocean Cleanup Sunglasses Studio Shots (2020)
0m24 48,60 MB

Boyan Slat, Founder and CEO, on a beach in Honduras. Rio Motagua basin has its estuary close to this beach. The Rio Las Vacas in Guatemala, in which The Ocean Cleanup is trialing an Interceptor Trashfence, is leading into Rio Motagua. The plastic pollution on the beach is estimated to come from this source.
Boyan Slat unveiling the Interceptor, October 26th, 2019
Boyan Slat, Founder & CEO, standing in front of The Ocean Cleanup's 1000 rivers pollution map
Boyan Slat at the Interceptor in Klang river, Malaysia
Boyan Slat, CEO and founder, during the live announcement on December 12th in Vancouver, Canada. He gave a recap of Ocean Mission One and explained the next steps for the plastic caught - to turn it into durable products that will help fund the continuation of the cleanup

Boyan Slat on the Interceptor 002 in Klang River, Malaysia
Boyan Slat with the Interceptor, October 2019
Boyan Slat unveiling the Interceptor, October 26th, 2019
Boyan Slat at the Interceptor location in Klang river, Malaysia
Boyan Slat with the Interceptor, October 2019
SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA, September 8, 2018 – The Ocean Cleanup Launched System 001 into the Great Pacific Garbage Patch from San Francisco - Photo: Pierre AUGIER for The OCEAN CLEANUP
Boyan Slat at the Interceptor in Klang river, Malaysia
SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA, September 8, 2018 – The Ocean Cleanup Launched System 001 into the Great Pacific Garbage Patch from San Francisco - Photo: Pierre AUGIER for The OCEAN CLEANUP
Boyan Slat on top of System 001, September 2018, before its launch into the North Pacific.
Boyan Slat - The Next Phase - May 11th
SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA, September 8, 2018 – The Ocean Cleanup Launched System 001 into the Great Pacific Garbage Patch from San Francisco - Photo: Pierre AUGIER for The OCEAN CLEANUP
Boyan Slat with the Interceptor, October 2019
Boyan Slat being interviewed by media on the Alameda System 001 assembly yard, April 2018
Boyan Slat at the Interceptor location in Klang river, Malaysia
Boyan Slat at the Interceptor location in Klang river, Malaysia
Boyan Slat sits in a floater segment of the first cleanup system on the assembly yard, April 2018.
Boyan Slat speaking at the Aerial Expedition press event at Moffett Airfield in Mountain View, California on October 3, 2016
Boyan Slat in a fireside chat with Hege Marie Norheim at the ONS conference in Norway, August 31, 2016. Photo by Morten Berentsen.
May 11, 2017 - Boyan Slat presents the plans on a free-floating system, to be trialed in 2018. Photo: Pierre Augier

Trail of plastic floating in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch
Motagua River, Guatemala, plastic pollution
Plastic pollution washed up on a beach in Dominican Republic
Plastic pollution on beach next to the river mouth of Motagua river
A young monk seal on Laysan Island holds a plastic fragment in his mouth. Photo credits: Matthew Chauvin

A bird surrounded by ocean plastic on the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands. **Photo credits: Matthew Chauvin**
Plastic floating in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch
Plastic debris washed up from a river in Indonesia.
Plastic bottles floating in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch
Crate dating back to the 1977 from the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, caught durign the Mega Expedition (2015).
Hard hat (1989) from the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, caught during the Mega Expedition (2015)
Nintendo Gameboy piece (1995) from the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, caught during the Mega Expedition (2015)
River plastic in Guatemala
River plastic in Rio Las Vacas, Guatemala
River pollution in Malaysia
The crew retrieves a large ghostnet from the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, November 2018.
Ghostnet hauled aboard during Mega Expedition 2015
Plastic pollution in the Las Vacas River, Guatemala
Mass accumulation of plastic pollution in the Las Vacas River, Guatemala
Plastic pollution pervading the Ozama River, Dominican Republic
Plastic pollution in Ozama river, Dominican Republic
Chao Phraya River, Bangkok, Thailand
Plastic pollution in Rio Las Vacas, Guatemala
Plastic pollution on a beach in Honduras

1.6 million square kilometers, three times the size of France - Illustration (gif)
1.8 trillion pieces of plastic - Illustration (gif)
How plastic pollution travels up the food chain
The 5 ocean gyres, where currents converge forming a vortex for plastic to circulate in.

The Ocean Cleanup's 1000 rivers map, available at theoceancleanup.com/1000rivers/
From land-based mismanaged plastic waste to riverine plastic emissions
The ratio between plastic production and plastic leaking into the ocean
Accumulative distribution of riverine plastic emission into the ocean.
The 1000 rivers model framework
The top 1000 rivers emit 20 million garbage bins of 240L per year. That's on average 20,000 bins per river.
Accumulative distribution of riverine plastic emissions into the ocean.
Plastic emissions per continent
Riverine plastic emissions into the oceans per river class
Plastic emissions per country
Plastic emissions - India
Plastic emissions - Guatemala
Plastic emissions - Venezuela
Plastic emissions - Malaysia
Plastic emissions - Indonesia
Plastic emissions - Philippines
Plastic emissions - China

1000 rivers explained
2m26 214,35 MB
River plastic pollution
1m16 153,78 MB

Manta trawl (starboard) and underwater trawl (stern - cable from blue A-frame) during deep sea research mission 2018. The aim of the mission was to see if the plastic afloat in ocean garbage patches can pollute the deep sea below.
CTD (Conductivity, Temperature, Density) profiler during deep sea research, 2018. The aim of the mission was to see if plastic floating in ocean garbage patches can pollute the deep sea below
Counting and categorizing the sampled microplastic during the deep sea expedition 2018. The aim of the mission was to see if the plastic afloat in ocean garbage patches can pollute the deep sea below.
River plastic research in Malaysia, conducted by The Ocean Cleanup crew and local research partners.
River plastic research in Guatemala

River plastic research in Malaysia, conducted by The Ocean Cleanup crew and local research partners
River plastic research in Malaysia, conducted by The Ocean Cleanup crew and local research partners.
The Ocean Cleanup research team processes ocean plastic samples in the laboratory.
The Ocean Cleanup research team processes ocean plastic samples in the laboratory.
Laurent Lebreton, Lead Oceanographer at The Ocean Cleanup, carrying out desk research
Counting of microplastics in The Ocean Cleanup's lab
Lead Oceanographer Laurent Lebreton logging data aboard the Ocean Force One during the Aerial Expedition, 2016.
Ocean Force One's arrival at Moffett Airfield in Mountain View, California, Aerial Expedition 2016
The Ocean Cleanup team and Aerial Expedition crew
Aerial Expedition 2016: Sensor equipment; a CZMIL system which uses LiDAR to create a 3D-image of the ghost nets (left), and a SASI hyperspectral SWIR imaging system, which uses an infrared camera to detect ocean plastic (right).
Mega Expedition mothership R/V Ocean Starr fully deployed above the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, 2015.
Trawling in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch
Manta trawl deployed during Mega Expedition. With a trawl, you can see how much microplastic there is per area trawled.

The Great Pacific Garbage Patch (GPGP), as mapped by The Ocean Cleanup in 2015-2016.
The Great Pacific Garbage Patch in Numbers - Infographic
Composition of the inner GPGP. Currently, about 5-10% of its mass is microplastics.
The journey of floating ocean plastic from rivers to garbage patches
Future scenarios for macroplastics in the GPGP. The dark band shows what would happen without any change. Addressing the source (left) causes the amount of ocean pollution to stay constant. Combining source reduction with cleanup (right) causes the amount of ocean pollution to decline.

Projection of floating plastic mass in ocean surface layer
Age distribution of floating plastic objects found in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch
Modeled age distribution of plastic

Boyan Slat on 1000 rivers emitting 80% of plastic from rivers
0m41 81,60 MB
Lourens Meijer sharing key take-aways from our 1000 rivers research
0m48 94,07
The Great Pacific Garbage Patch - Animation by in60seonds
2min41 235,3 MB
Boyan Slat, Founder & CEO Explaining our research of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch (2018)
7min28 6,1 GB

Laurent Lebreton, Lead Oceanographer - About the Great Pacific Garbage Patch Research Results (2018)
2min32 2 GB
River Waste Image Recognition Algorithm
0m10 4m05
Various footage of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch research - Mega Expedition, Aerial Expedition, Laboratory
5min59 4,9 GB
Aerial Expedition Press Conference at Mofett Airfield
12min42 1,8 GB

Rotterdam, October 26, 2019 - The Ocean Cleanup unveils the Interceptor, the first scalable river cleanup technology.
Rotterdam, October 26, 2019 - The Ocean Cleanup unveils the Interceptor, the first scalable river cleanup technology.
Rotterdam, October 26, 2019 - The Ocean Cleanup unveils the Interceptor, the first scalable river cleanup technology.
Rotterdam, October 26, 2019 - The Ocean Cleanup unveils the Interceptor, the first scalable river cleanup technology.
Rotterdam, October 26, 2019 - The Ocean Cleanup unveils the Interceptor, the first scalable river cleanup technology.

Rotterdam, October 26, 2019 - The Ocean Cleanup unveils the Interceptor, the first scalable river cleanup technology.
$\Rotterdam, October 26, 2019 - The Ocean Cleanup unveils the Interceptor, the first scalable river cleanup technology. Boyan Slat, CEO and founder on stage.$
Rotterdam, October 26, 2019 - The Ocean Cleanup unveils the Interceptor, the first scalable river cleanup technology. Boyan Slat, CEO and founder on stage.
Rotterdam, October 26, 2019 - The Ocean Cleanup unveils the Interceptor, the first scalable river cleanup technology.
Rotterdam, October 26, 2019 - The Ocean Cleanup unveils the Interceptor, the first scalable river cleanup technology.
Rotterdam, October 26, 2019 - The Ocean Cleanup unveils the Interceptor, the first scalable river cleanup technology.
Rotterdam, October 26, 2019 - The Ocean Cleanup unveils the Interceptor, the first scalable river cleanup technology.
Rotterdam, October 26, 2019 - The Ocean Cleanup unveils the Interceptor, the first scalable river cleanup technology.

Boyan Slat introduces the Interceptor - Highlights
6m48 4.93 GB