Milestones

The future

• 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

  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

  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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• 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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• 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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