Milestones

The future

• Scale-up in Rivers

  Scale-up in Rivers

  Our goal is to apply our knowledge, experience, and network to eventually intercept plastic in the world’s 1000 most polluted rivers. This is how we plan to get there.

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• Beyond System 03

  Scale-up in oceans

  Scale-up in oceans

  Having taken the learnings from System 002 and applying them to subsequent iterations of the technology, we will scale up in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. By implementing the Hotspot Hunting strategy, we anticipate a more efficient cleanup of the GPGP. With this blueprint for scale-up, we will look to deploy a fleet of systems into all the other four ocean gyres.

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The present

• 2025

  17 Interceptors in 8 countries

  17 Interceptors in 8 countries

  We currently operate in 8 different countries from Central America to Southeast Asia. Our Interceptor fleet counts 17 deployments as of March 2025.

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• 2025

  System 03

  System 03

  Nearly three times larger than our previous technology and capable of cleaning the area of a football field every five seconds, the arrival of System 03 marks a huge leap forward in our mission of ridding the oceans of plastic.

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The past

• 2024

  20 million kg of trash removed

  20 million kg of trash removed

  In December 2024, we achieved the groundbreaking milestone of capturing 20 million kilograms of trash through our global operations. We are tirelessly working towards catching another 20 million kilograms!

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• 2024

  Repurposing our plastic catch

  Repurposing our plastic catch

  In 2024, we successfully launched two products in collaboration with our partners, utilizing our recycled plastic. The first product is a limited-edition trunk liner for the Kia EV3, crafted from plastic caught in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. The second product is The Notebook Edition LP by Coldplay, made with intercepted plastic from the Rio Las Vacas, one of the world's most polluted rivers, located near Guatemala City.

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• 2024

  Time for action – port call event

  Time for action – port call event

  On September 6, our crew met up in San Francisco Bay to make an exciting announcement: The great Pacific Garbage Patch can be cleaned, at a cost of $7.5 bln in 10 years. Nevertheless, by tracking plastic hotspots and directing our vessels efficiently, we aim to clean the entire patch in 5 years at half the cost.

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• 2024

  100th extraction – live streamed from the great pacific garbage patch

  100th extraction – live streamed from the great pacific garbage patch

  On May 29, our crew celebrated the 100th ocean extraction with a special live stream event from the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. During the event we also allowed our followers to meet the amazing crew behind our operation through interviews.

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• 2021-2023

  System 002 Proven Technology

  System 002 Proven Technology

  System 002 (also known as Jenny) was our first full-scale cleanup system and proved our ability to truly make an impact in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch (GPGP). System 002 validated our ocean technology.

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• 2020

  Recycled The First Plastic Catch

  Recycled The First Plastic Catch

  Since the initial pitch of The Ocean Cleanup, before it was even The Ocean Cleanup, there has always been a plan to do something meaningful with the plastic we remove from the ocean, to help fund the continuation of the cleanup. On October 24th, 2020, we launched our first product: The Ocean Cleanup sunglasses.

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• June – November 2019

  System 001/B – Catching the First Plastic

  System 001/B – Catching the First Plastic

  Using the lessons learned from the System 001 mission (2018), we were able to address the two main issues observed, plastic retention and structural integrity, with the design of System 001/B. System 001/B validated the core concept of our ocean cleanup technology and caught our first batch of ocean plastic.

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• 2018

  System 001 – First Ocean Cleanup System

  System 001 – First Ocean Cleanup System

  On September 8, 2018, The Ocean Cleanup launched its first cleanup system, System 001, into the North Pacific to trial the technology in its intended environment. The team was able to conduct extensive testing; but, after four months offshore, the decision was made to return to port to further analyze the challenges encountered offshore. The learnings from System 001 brought us one step closer to proven technology and laid the foundation for future design iterations.

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• Mid-2018-Today

  Interceptor™ 2.0

  Interceptor™ 2.0

  By mid-2018, after digesting all the lessons learned from the testing phase of Interceptor™ 1.0 in Zuidland and taking into account all the findings from our river research, our engineers started designing a new concept and basic design for our second prototype, Interceptor™ 2.0.

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• October 2017-Today

  Interceptor 001 – The First River Technology

  Interceptor 001 – The First River Technology

  The first Interceptor™ prototype, The Ocean Cleanup’s initial river cleanup system, was designed and built in 2017. It was deployed and tested in Zuidland, South Holland, after which adjustments were made in Capelle a/d IJssel and Batam Indonesia during the first half of 2018, before being deployed in Jakarta in 2019. 

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• 2016

  Aerial Expedition

  Aerial Expedition

  Quantifying the ocean’s biggest and most harmful debris - discarded fishing gear called ghost nets.

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• 2016

  First North Sea Prototype

  First North Sea Prototype

  In June 2016, we put our barrier to the test in the open ocean for the first time. The North Sea was a great test environment, due to its strong tidal currents, and short, steep wave patterns.

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• 2016 - Today

  River research projects

  River research projects

  Since the very start of our efforts we have always believed that to develop the most optimal cleanup technologies it’s essential to truly understand the problem. That is why we’ve been extensively researching rivers since 2016.

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• 2015-2016

  Developing the Interceptor™ Concept

  Developing the Interceptor™ Concept

  Ridding the oceans of plastic is our goal, and, to achieve this, we have always known that the solution is two pronged: cleaning up legacy ocean plastic and going after the source of the problem. The main source being plastic from rivers all around the globe entering the oceans and feeding the garbage patches we aretrying to eradicate.

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• 2015

  Scale model testing

  Scale model testing

  Executing a series of scale model tests to determine the loads, dynamics and cleanup efficiency of our floating barrier system.

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• 2015

  Mega expedition

  Mega expedition

  Successfully completed a 30-vessel research expedition to produce the first high-resolution map of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.

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• 2013-2015

  Vertical distribution research

  Vertical distribution research

  Data from a series of expeditions show most plastic is within reach of the surface.

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• 2014

  Crowd Funding Campaign

  Crowd Funding Campaign

  The Ocean Cleanup raises $2.2m thanks to the support of 38,000 people from 160 countries, becoming the most successful non-profit crowdfunding campaign to date.

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• 2014

  Feasibility Study

  Feasibility Study

  The Ocean Cleanup passes feasibility phase.

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• 2013

  How It All Began – Founding The Ocean Cleanup

  How It All Began – Founding The Ocean Cleanup

  It all started when then 16-year-old Boyan Slat was scuba diving in Greece and was surprised to see more plastic than fish.

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