Milestones

The future

• Today - 2025

  Scale-up in Rivers

  Scale-up in Rivers

  Considering the scale of the issue we face, with 1000 rivers worldwide responsible for nearly 80% of the plastic inflow to the oceans, we need a radically different approach to scale our efforts over the next few years.

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• Beyond System 003

  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. 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 past

• 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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• 2018

  System 001

  System 001

  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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• 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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• 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

  How it all began

  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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