Press kit

For press inquiries please email press@theoceancleanup.com.
For footage, see our media gallery.
For our published articles, see our scientific publications page.
For our case studies, see how we are improving lives here.

Press Releases

19 August 2026 The Ocean Cleanup and City of Santa Marta sign Memorandum of Understanding to tackle plastic pollution
13 August 2026 The Ocean Cleanup, Dominican Republic Government announce replacement of Ozama river barrier
22 July 2026 How we are creating the largest-ever database on floating ocean plastic using smart cameras
4 June 2026 DENR, The Ocean Cleanup forge strategic alliance to purge plastic waste from Pasig River
13 May 2026 The Ocean Cleanup expands LA project: New agreements aim to stop hundreds of tons of plastic from Pacific

30 April 2026 The Ocean Cleanup moving towards deployment of Mumbai Interceptors™ 
28 April 2026 The Ocean Cleanup marks first milestone with Meycauayan plastic Interceptor rollout
9 April 2026 Hyundai Glovis renews partnership with The Ocean Cleanup
1 April 2026 Pacific Cup to increase scientific understanding of plastic pollution
9 March 2026 The Ocean Cleanup secures vital funding for scale up in mission to rid oceans of plastic
16 February 2026 CTI-CFF and The Ocean Cleanup Sign MoU
10 February 2026 The Ocean Cleanup Enters India; To Tackle Mumbai’s 5 Million kg Plastic Flow into the Arabian Sea & Indian Ocean
6 February 2026 Singapore convenes regional science, partnership, and finance to cut river plastic flowing into Southeast Asia’s oceans
3 February 2026 The Indonesian government and The Ocean Cleanup Sign an MoU to Reduce Plastic Waste from Rivers to the Ocean
26 January 2026 The Ocean Cleanup to deploy plastic waste Interceptors in Manila Bay Region in 2026
15 July 2025 Hawaiian sailors hunting plastic
15 July 2025 The Ocean Cleanup and AWS Join Forces to Accelerate Ocean Plastic Removal using AI
16 June 2025 Call for sailors to become Pacific plastic hunters this summer
12 June 2025 The Ocean Cleanup launches 30 cities program to cut ocean plastic pollution from rivers by one third by 2030
27 May 2025 New study highlights environmental harm of not cleaning GPGP
19 November 2024 The Ocean Cleanup: Nearly five-fold increase in Great Pacific Garbage Patch plastic fragments, seven-year study reveals
6 September 2024 The Great Pacific Garbage Patch can be Cleaned for $7.5 Billion
17 June 2024 The Ocean Cleanup and Coldplay Announce Limited Edition LP Made Using Recycled River Plastic
23 May 2024 The Ocean Cleanup to Complete 100th Extraction Live From the Great Pacific Garbage Patch
22 April 2024 The Ocean Cleanup Breaks 10,000,000 KG Barrier
26 March 2024 The Ocean Cleanup, Together With Partners, Celebrates the Official Deployment of Its Cleanup Technology in Thailand for the First Time
27 November 2023 Malaysia and The Ocean Cleanup Extend Cooperation
20 November 2023 Maersk Supply Service and related parties extend their support to The Ocean Cleanup
14 June 2023 Interceptor Barricade Makes Promising Start in Guatemala ahead of First Seasonal Heavy Floods
15 May 2023 60 Leading Innovators Against Plastic Pollution Call for a Pragmatic and Inclusive Global Plastics Treaty
12 May 2023 The Ocean Cleanup Announces New Interceptor for Cisadane River, Indonesia
8 March 2023 The Ocean Cleanup and Municipality of Guatemala City Agree Cooperation Agreement to Tackle Plastic Pollution in Rivers
9 February 2023 UNDP and The Ocean Cleanup Team up to Tackle Plastic Pollution
3 February 2023 Airbnb and Samara Co-Founder Joe Gebbia Donates $25 Million to The Ocean Cleanup
14 November 2022 Indonesia Enters New Agreement With the Netherlands and the Ocean Cleanup to Reduce Marine Debris From Rivers
1 September 2022 Over 75% Of Plastic in Great Pacific Garbage Patch Originates From Fishing
28 April 2022 The Ocean Cleanup and Kia announce Global Partnership
11 January 2022 The Coca-Cola Company and The Ocean Cleanup Join Forces in Vietnam to Tackle Plastic Pollution
20 October 2021 The Ocean Cleanup Proves Viability of Technology with System 002; Removal of Plastic from Great Pacific Garbage Patch to Begin Immediately
2 June 2021 The Ocean Cleanup and The Coca-Cola Company Announce Partnership
30 April 2021 1000 Rivers Emit Nearly 80% of Riverine Plastic Pollution into Worlds Oceans, Newly Published Research Shows
25 March 2021 Coldplay Adopts Interceptor to Join The Ocean Cleanup Mission
13 January 2021 The Ocean Cleanup, A.P. Moller – Maersk Extend Relationship with New Three-Year Partnership
10 December 2020 The Ocean Cleanup Prepares for Series Production of Interceptor – Partners with Konecranes
24 October 2020 The Ocean Cleanup Introduces First Product Made with Ocean Plastic Pollution
7 May 2020 The Ocean Cleanup Wins $1M Award from Benioff Ocean Initative to Combat River Plastic Waste in Jamaica
12 December 2019 The Ocean Cleanup Completes Mission One in Great Pacific Garbage Patch, Announces Plans to Make Products from Plastic Catch
26 October 2019 The Ocean Cleanup Unveils Plan to Address the Main Source of Ocean Plastic Pollution: Rivers
2 October 2019 The Ocean Cleanup Successfully Catches Plastic in Great Pacific Garbage Patch
12 September 2019 New Understanding on Whereabouts of Missing Ocean Plastic
27 August 2019 The Ocean Cleanup is awarded Macquarie 50th Anniversary Award
8 September 2018 The World’s First Ocean Cleanup System Launched from San Francisco
22 March 2018 Great Pacific Garbage Patch Growing Rapidly, Study Shows
21 December 2017 Research Shows How Plastic at Sea Turns into Toxic Fish Food
7 June 2017 First Estimate to Quantify Global Plastic Input from Rivers into Oceans
11 May 2017 The Ocean Cleanup Announces Pacific Cleanup to Start in 2018
3 May 2017 The Ocean Cleanup Raises 21.7 Million USD in Donations to Start Pacific Cleanup Trials
3 October 2016 Ocean Plastic Pollution Worse Than Expected
22 June 2016 The Ocean Cleanup Unveils First Prototype
8 June 2016 The Ocean Cleanup Secures Full Funding For Prototype
23 August 2015 The Ocean Cleanup Prepares For 2020 Pacific Cleanup, Successfully Completes Mega Expedition Reconnaissance Mission
31 July 2015 The Ocean Cleanup Prepares For Pacific Cleanup, Embarks On Largest Reasearch Expedition In History
20 June 2015 World’s First Ocean Cleaning System To Be Deployed In 2016
20 April 2015 The Ocean Cleanup Launches Mega Expedition
15 September 2014 Crowd Funding Campaign The Ocean Cleanup Successfully Completed
3 June 2014 19-Year-Old Invents Feasibile Solution To Cleanup Ocean Garbage Patches

Our Media Gallery

A selection of high resolution material is available for editorial use. Please credit with ‘The Ocean Cleanup’ unless otherwise stated under the file.

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Featured Media Coverage

19 August 2026 Caracol Firmado memorando de entendimiento para combatir la contaminación por plásticos en Santa Marta
12 August 2026 Forbes How The Shipping Industry Is Helping Research Into Plastic Pollution
11 August 2026 Waste360 Tackling Marine Trash: Tech Trends to Watch
22 July 2026 Phys Org Creating the largest-ever database on floating ocean plastic using smart cameras
9 July 2026 TVN MiAmbiente y Marea Verde impulsarán proyecto para frenar la basura en siete ríos urbanos de Panamá

3 July 2026 Autopost This Major Car Brand’s Newest Factory Is on the Ocean
1 July 2026 Forbes The Day Humanity Started Building
29 June 2026 La Prensa Instalan nueva barrera en el río Matías Hernández para reducir residuos
12 June 2026 The Guardian A solar-powered rubbish-eating boat? The vessel chomping plastic waste out of the sea
4 June 2026 Inquirer DENR, Ocean Cleanup ink 5-year deal to clean Pasig River
2 June 2026 Clarín En el Pacífico, los buques gigantes ya recogen toneladas de plástico por hora, mientras que los sistemas fluviales capturan 50 toneladas al día y los robots separan el 98% de los residuos
26 May 2026 AccuWeather What is the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, and why are environmentalists racing to clean it up
21 May 2026 TradingView ZAWYA: Kia’s global partner, The Ocean Cleanup expands plastic interception project ahead of LA28
21 May 2026 MT Sprout Innovatie300 – de lijst
15 May 2026 Los Angeles Times L.A.’s ultra-urban rivers wash tons of trash out to sea. There’s a plan to change that before the Olympics
15 May 2026 Forbes This Garbage Barge Might Be Southern California’s Most Impressive Boat
10 May 2026 The Indian Express Mumbai’s new ‘trash catchers’ stop tonnes of garbage before it reaches sea
24 April 2026 Frontier Enterprise How distributed edge AI is reshaping ocean plastic monitoring
22 April 2026 Matt Ferrell The Truth About Ocean Plastic
15 April 2026 Devex Development banks fund ports — but not the ocean they depend on
12 April 2026 The Free Press Journal Mumbai Joins Global Fight Against Ocean Plastic As The Ocean Cleanup Launches Major Initiative Across The City
10 April 2026 Mumbai News How 50 Lakh Kg Of Plastic Moves From Mumbai Homes To Arabian Sea, Indian Ocean
30 March 2026 UNDP Towards a Sustainable Financial Model for Floating Waste Management in Waterways: Lessons from the Interceptor 003 Model in Can Tho, Viet Nam
8 March 2026 The Sunday Times ‘My invention makes ocean plastic the world’s cheapest problem to solve’
22 February 2026 Hindustan Times Waste management capacity expansion key to curb plastic pollution: Ocean Cleanup founder
11 February 2026 The Tribune Barriers to be installed in Mumbai to stop flow of plastic waste into Arabian Sea, Indian Ocean
6 February 2026 MSN Time-lapse clip shows incredible technology removing 140 tons of garbage from river: ‘Whoever made this is a genius’
17 December 2025 El Pais Boyan Slat, el chico que se empeñó en limpiar el océano
1 December 2025 Josh Top 10 Incredible Inventions by Teenagers That Changed the World
1 December 2025 Insideover Dal Motagua alle Galápagos: l’America Latina guida la battaglia globale contro la plastica
5 November 2025 Metro The big plastic dream: how we forgot Boyan Slat
27 October 2025 Daily Kos Musings for Friday – Some Positive Things
13 October 2025 G1 Sabia que o seu copinho descartável pode ir parar no oceano? Veja quanto tempo leva para cada item se decompor
25 September 2025 Newsweek Clean Energy Leaders Look to the Future
22 September 2025 Forbes Boyan Slat among Forbes’ global sustainability leaders
8 September 2025 BuzzFeed “The Ozone Layer Is Actually Healing Faster Than Expected”: 18 Good Things Happening In The World That Prove Progress Is Possible
4 September 2025 globo.com Sabia que o seu copinho descartável pode ir parar no oceano? Veja quanto tempo leva para cada item se decompor
1 September 2025 The Telegraph ‘This was a beautiful place – now look at it’: The river swallowed by plastic
27 August 2025 AOL Tired Of Bad News? Here Are 42 Bits Of Good News That Deserve The Spotlight
22 August 2025 DW The plastic crisis — Global Us
15 August 2025 Welingelichte Kringen Grote zorgen bij Ocean Cleanup over uitblijven plasticakkoord
10 August 2025 El Pais La pesadilla del río Las Vacas, uno de los más contaminados por plásticos del mundo
24 July 2025 RTE Ecolution Podcast: The Ocean Cleanup crew are using new technology to help put an end to plastic pollution
22 July 2025 The Telegraph ‘This was a beautiful place – now look at it’: The river swallowed by plastic
17 July 2025 Amazon The Ocean Cleanup and AWS Join Forces to Accelerate Ocean Plastic Removal using AI
2 July 2025 Business Today New Waste Sorting Facility For A Cleaner Klang River
14 June 2025 How action in just 30 cities could stop a third of plastic pollution entering the ocean
12 June 2025 Sailword Cruising Call for sailors to become Pacific plastic hunters this summer
12 June 2025 Dare Akogu The Ocean Cleanup Unveils Bold Plan to Cut Global River Plastic Pollution by One-Third
11 June 2025 VnEconomy Moment of reflection: Rethinking coastal tourism for Vietnam’s next chapter
5 June 2025 Global Voices World Environment Day: In Jamaica, the battle against plastics continues
26 May 2025 National Geographic Le Gange, aussi sacré que pollué
7 May 2025 N News Naver EU to discuss measures to combat marine plastic pollution at the 2025 Hour Ocean Conference
22 April 2025 KTLA Earth Day 2025
18 April 2025 AP News Primo Brands Partners with The Ocean Cleanup to Champion Cleaner Waterways
15 April 2025 Newsweek Cleaner Water: Kia and The Ocean Cleanup Partner to Green the Planet
5 April 2025 The Cool Down Experts stunned by whale’s stomach contents after being washed ashore: ‘Challenging … for a number of reasons’
5 April 2025 News18 This Dutch Man Built A Robot At 18 That Eats Trash To Save Oceans
28 March 2025 Das Magazin Das Magazin: Ein Meer von Plastik (und was sich dagegen tun lässt)
25 March 2025 Britannica How to clean up Earth’s oceans
24 March 2025 Earth.com Ocean currents may soon clean up waste, thanks to space tech
19 March 2025 Medium The Detrimental Impact of Plastic on Ocean Life: A Comprehensive Overview
12 March 2025 La Prensa Proyecto ‘7 cuencas’: interceptores en 7 ríos para rescatar la Bahía de Panamá
12 March 2025 The Standard The worst man-made environmental disasters: from Exxon Valdez to Fukushima and beyond
4 March 2025 AP News 22nd Annual San Francisco International Ocean Film Festival April 11 – 13 Announces Official Selections
28 February 2025 The Cool Down Local man reveals why beloved fish has disappeared from major river: ‘So rare’
25 February 2025 The Independent Singapore Nature reclaims Klang River as otters make a joyful comeback
10 February 2025 the Sun gov’t considers national law to tackle plastic waste pollution
9 February 2025 El Economista The 5 islands of shame that accumulate tons of plastic and are equivalent to a third of the European continent
28 January 2025 Medium SPO Spotlight: GAIA
24 January 2025 Ethic Cuanto más tiempo permanece un plástico en el medio ambiente, más dañino se vuelve
23 January 2025 Illuminem TOP 10 Most-Read Thought Leaders of 2024 in Environmental Sustainability
20 January 2025 MONOist What should manufacturers do for sustainability?
16 January 2025 Nokia The Ocean Cleanup, Nokia Private Wireless and MCS unite to clean the Great Pacific Garbage Patch
14 January 2025 SoFi S&P 500 Companies Helping Clean the Oceans
7 January 2025 EXPRESS The incredible garbage island three times the size of France floating in the Pacific
26 December 2024 Techcratic Sustainable Tech Trends to Watch in 2025
21 November 2024 The Gleaner - Jamaica Kingston Harbour Clean-Up Project removes trash surrounding mangrove forests
16 November 2024 MSN Kia makes exciting announcement about new vehicle accessory made from trash: ‘Proud to see tangible progress made’
12 November 2024 TIME TIME100 Climate 2024: Boyan Slat
15 September 2024 Yahoo!News Cleanup Group Says It’s on Track to Eliminate the Great Pacific Garbage Patch
17 June 2024 Rolling Stone Coldplay to Release ‘Moon Music’ Album With ‘New Sustainability Standards’
17 June 2024 The Guardian Coldplay: vinyl copies of new album Moon Music will be made from old plastic bottles
29 May 2024 NU.nl The Ocean Cleanup haalt honderdste lading afval uit Stille Oceaan
15 May 2024 ABC Australia Boyan Slat on ambition, obsession and striving for the impossible
16 April 2024 PBS Cleaning Up the Great Pacific Garbage Patch (With A Gigantic Net) | A Brief History of the Future
16 January 2024 BBC Visualising the Great Pacific Garbage Patch
22 November 2023 KCAL News Auto maker partners with environmental group to use recycled plastics: On Your Side
11 October 2023 The Economist Who is polluting the ocean with plastic?
18 September 2023 The Inertia L.A. County Installed a Massive Trash Interceptor; Could This Be Our Post-Rain Solution?
2 September 2023 Jovem Pan Empresa pretende limpar ao menos 90% do lixo dos oceanos
28 August 2023 CNN Oceans Polluted With Plastic
21 August 2023 The World Cleaning up the Pacific Garbage Patch — one trawler at a time
16 August 2023 Good Morning America Ocean cleanup group removes record 25,000 pounds of trash from Great Pacific Garbage Patch in one extraction
6 August 2023 Le Monde Du Guatemala au Honduras, le fleuve Motagua charrie des milliers de tonnes de plastique
5 August 2023 NBC News Founder of The Ocean Cleanup is ridding the world of ocean plastic
4 August 2023 Huffington Post As Climate Fears Grow, Here’s A Reminder Of How Humans Can Actually Help The Planet
11 July 2023 Prensa Libre Río Las Vacas: La barricada interceptora de The Ocean Cleanup extrae el equivalente a mil camiones de plásticos
16 June 2023 Prensa Libre Río Las Vacas: Así funciona el sorprendente Interceptor 006 que ha logrado detener y extraer montañas de basura en Guatemal
25 May 2023 The New York Times Humanity Is Addicted to Plastic, but We Can Still Keep It Out of Our Oceans
15 May 2023 Forbes New Innovation Alliance Calls For Pragmatic Global Plastics Treaty
11 May 2023 Los Angeles Times 77 tons less trash made it into the ocean thanks to this experimental L.A. County device
18 April 2023 CNN The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is now so huge and permanent that a coastal ecosystem is thriving on it, scientists say
17 April 2023 NPR This floating ocean garbage is home to a surprising amount of life from the coasts
28 March 2023 Mashable Plastic pollution is clogging a river in Guatemala. Can we ever clean it?
21 March 2023 LA Times Trash interceptor weathers the storms, sparing Pacific from thousands of pounds of garbage
12 March 2023 SXSW Featured Session of SXSW 2023: The Largest Cleanup in History
27 February 2023 BBC Ocean plastic: How tech is being used to clean up waste problem
15 February 2023 Forbes The Ocean Cleanup Readies Launch of System 03, With Three Times The Plastic-Collecting
2 February 2023 Fortune Airbnb’s cofounder just donated $25 million to get plastic out of the ocean and tackle the Great Pacific Garbage Patch
23 January 2023 Nature Boyan Slat founded and operates a business that seeks to reduce ocean plastic pollution by 90%
5 January 2023 LA Times Storm is an ‘extreme test’ of waste capture system protecting the Pacific from L.A. runoff
4 January 2023 ABC7 LA County using Dutch nonprofit’s device to keep trash out of the Pacific Ocean
4 January 2023 Fast Company In L.A., this sleek barrier kept 35,000 pounds of trash out of the ocean
11 November 2022 BBC Business Daily Meets: Boyan Slat
2 September 2022 Science Alert Much of The Great Pacific Garbage Patch’s Plastic Comes From These 5 Countries
1 September 2022 Nature Ocean ‘garbage patch’ is filled with fishing gear from just a few places
3 August 2022 CNBC How three companies are cleaning up the world’s plastic-choked rivers
9 June 2022 Reuters Cleanup crews trap plastic on Guatemalan river to protect ocean
8 June 2022 The Washington Post Activists try giant screen to clean up Guatemalan river
29 April 2022 Zigwheels Kia partners with The Ocean Cleanup for solutions to plastic pollution
23 February 2022 CNET The Ocean Cleanup Now Offers More River Interceptors
16 February 2022 Newsweek Ocean cleanup accused of staging removal after plastic looked too clean
2 February 2022 CNN CNN Meio Dia – 2 de fevereiro de 2022 (at 2:42:10)
11 November 2021 Pioneers Post Turn off the tap! The river robots that fight ocean plastic
11 November 2021 Elmundo Boyan Slat, el don Quijote de La Mancha (oceánica)
2 November 2021 CNET The Ocean Cleanup Begins Cleaning the Great Pacific Garbage Patch
29 October 2021 USA Today They pulled 63,000 pounds of trash from the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, but that’s just the start
20 October 2021 Global News Cleanup crews return to B.C. marking ‘major milestone’ in mission to rid oceans of trash
15 October 2021 UNILAD Ocean Cleanup Extracts 20,000 Pounds Of Rubbish From Pacific Garbage Patch
15 October 2021 Business Insider A half-mile installation just took 20,000 pounds of plastic out of the Pacific – proof that ocean garbage can be cleaned
13 October 2021 Oils & Fats International Maersk partnership announces promising results from HVO trial
9 September 2021 Global News Ocean cleanup crew return to Victoria with 8 tonnes of plastic pollution
22 June 2021 PADI PADI and The Ocean Cleanup Join Forces to Tackle Oceans Plastic
8 June 2021 CNET Floating trash collectors are stopping garbage from reaching the ocean
2 June 2021 Forbes The Coca-Cola Company And The Ocean Cleanup Join Forces To Clean Up 15 Of The World’s Most Polluting Rivers Of Plastic Waste
4 May 2021 Yahoo Thousands of rivers (not just 10) are causing most global plastic pollution, study finds
1 May 2021 BBC Plastic pollution: ‘It’s not 10 rivers, it’s 1,000’
30 April 2021 National Geographic Plastic Gets to the Oceans Through Over 1,000 rivers
25 October 2020 New Atlas [The] Ocean Cleanup sunglasses debuts its first Sunglasses made from Plastic Waste
24 October 2020 Fast Company Garbage has never looked as cool as these Pacific Garbage Patch sunglasses
24 October 2020 CNET The Ocean Cleanup’s Boyan Slat shows off new shades made from ocean plastic
2 July 2020 Diplomat Magazine Spanish Embassy candidate Wins 2020 FPdGi International Award
14 May 2020 Forbes How The Ocean Cleanup Plans To Work With Brands To Solve The Problem Of Plastic
30 April 2020 The economist How to stop plastic getting into the ocean
29 January 2020 My TF1 Quotidien deuxieme partie du 29 janvier 2020 avec Vincent Dedienne, Catherine Frot et Boyan Slat
21 January 2020 Adweek Why You Should Think Irrationally in 2020 Like These Brands Did
13 January 2020 Weforum This is how The Ocean Cleanup’s mission to clear the Great Pacific Garbage Patch is going
15 December 2019 CBS [The] Ocean Cleanup Finishes 1st Round Of Great Pacific Garbage Patch Project
13 December 2019 CNET The Ocean Cleanup celebrates first haul of plastic from the Great Pacific garbage patch
2 November 2019 NowThis Meet Boyan Slat, Founder of The Ocean Cleanup Project
28 October 2019 La Vanguardia Interceptor: solución para que los ríos no llenen los mares de plásticos
27 October 2019 Bild Ocean Cleanup sagt Plastik in 1000 Flüssen den Kampf an
26 October 2019 Fast Company The Ocean Cleanup project is now cleaning plastic out of rivers to stop it from getting to the ocean
26 October 2019 Bloomberg The Ocean Cleanup Unveils New Device
26 October 2019 CNET Boyan Slat of The Ocean Cleanup talks up his latest invention, The Interceptor
3 October 2019 CNN A floating device created to clean up plastic from the ocean is finally doing its job, organizers say
3 October 2019 The Guardian Ocean cleanup device successfully collects plastic for first time
2 October 2019 NOS Nieuwe plasticvanger werkt een stuk beter, zegt Ocean Cleanup
2 October 2019 Bild Ocean Cleanup fischt jetzt Plastik aus dem Meer
2 October 2019 Forbes The Ocean Cleanup Is Capturing Plastic, Prepping A Larger Trash-Collecting System
2 October 2019 Fast Company The Ocean Cleanup device is finally catching plastic
16 September 2019 The New Yorker Where does all the plastic go?
12 September 2019 Business Insider A 25-year-old’s mission to clean up the Great Pacific Garbage Patch has yielded a new discovery — and it means the plastic problem is even worse than we thought
10 September 2019 UN Environment Programme Boyan Slat: Dutch engineer-turned-cleaner puts faith in humanity’s ‘better angels’
16 August 2019 Forbes The Ocean Cleanup Has Good News, Hopes To Resume Plastic Cleanup Soon
4 February 2019 The New Yorker A Grand Plan to Clean the Great Pacific Garbage Patch
11 January 2019 Forbes Founder Of Ocean Cleanup Vows Return, Says Failure Talk Is ‘Rubbish’
16 December 2018 CBS 60 minutes – Cleaning up the Plastic in the Ocean
14 October 2018 vpro documentary Boyan Slat’s Plastic Hunt – Documentary
18 September 2018 Wired Marc Benioff Bets on Cleanup Tech for Ocean Trash
16 September 2018 Business Insider What the creators of the giant plastic-cleaning system headed to the Great Pacific Garbage Patch say to critics who doubt them
10 September 2018 Business Insider The massive plastic-cleaning device invented by a 24-year-old is headed out to the Great Pacific Garbage Patch — here’s what the launch looked like
10 September 2018 CNET The Ocean Cleanup launches its plastic collecting system
9 September 2018 USA Today It took 5 years, now the Ocean Cleanup system is heading to the Great Pacific Garbage Patch
7 September 2018 Fast Company The Ocean Cleanup vessel is on its way to clean up the Great Pacific Garbage Patch
7 September 2018 BBC Giant plastic catcher heads for Pacific Ocean clean-up
28 August 2018 Forbes The Ocean Cleanup Is Starting, Aims To Cut Garbage Patch By 90% By 2040
16 June 2018 Bloomberg The Nonprofit Startup Taking on ‘The Great Pacific Garbage Patch’
13 June 2018 NBC A young Dutch inventor wants to clean plastic from the ocean. Can he do it?
20 April 2018 Fast Company The Revolutionary Giant Ocean Cleanup Machine Is About To Set Sail
18 April 2018 CBS Plan To Clean Up Great Pacific Garbage Patch Nears Launch
22 March 2018 The New York Times The ‘Great Pacific Garbage Patch’ Is Ballooning, 87,000 Tons of Plastic and Counting
22 March 2018 The Guardian ‘Great Pacific garbage patch’ sprawling with far more debris than thought
7 December 2017 EW Magazine Dit is de Nederlander van het Jaar 2017
4 August 2017 The Telegraph ‘It’s important to at least try’: Can this 23-year-old clear the oceans of plastic waste?
28 June 2017 CNN Floating a new idea for garbage collection
26 June 2017 BBC A 22 year-old has a plan to clear the oceans of plastic
16 June 2017 Outside We just dumped 11 million pounds of plastic in the ocean
15 June 2017 El Pais La mayor limpieza (del océano) de la historia
8 June 2017 Daily Mail Rivers found to feed plastic to oceans in new study
16 May 2017 Reuters Dutchman wants to deploy barriers to gather, recycle Pacific plastic
15 May 2017 BBC How do you clean up the ocean’s biggest rubbish dump?
12 May 2017 O Globo Jovem de 22 anos apresenta plano para tirar plásticos do oceano
11 May 2017 Business Insider Dutch group says it will soon start cleaning up ocean trash
11 May 2017 Business Insider A 22-year-old is moving ahead with a controversial plan to trap plastic floating in the great Pacific garbage patch
11 May 2017 Fast Company Boy Genius Boyan Slat’s Giant Ocean Cleanup Machine is Real
11 May 2017 ABC News Effort to clean up ocean plastic to begin in the next 12 months
11 May 2017 CBS Group To Clean Up Pacific Garbage Patch 2 Years Earlier Than Planned
22 April 2017 CNBC Why Peter Thiel believes in this 22-year-old’s dream to clean up the oceans
31 January 2017 Reader's Digest European of the Year: Boyan Slat Wants to Clean Up the Oceans
10 January 2017 The Washington Post A young man tries to save the oceans from plastic with floating noodle look-alikes
4 October 2016 The Guardian ‘Great Pacific Garbage Patch’ Far Bigger Than Imagined, Aerial Survey Shows
3 October 2016 HUFFPOST The Great Pacific Garbage Patch Is Even Worse Than We Feared
3 October 2016 ABC7 Researchers At Moffett Field Aim To Clean Great Pacfic Garbage Patch
18 August 2016 USA Today Meet The Guy Trying To Clean Up The Great Pacific Garbage Patch
14 August 2016 PBS Can This Project Clean Up Millions Of Tons Of Ocean Plastic?
8 July 2016 CBC 21-year-old Boyan Slat Wants To Rid The World’s Oceans Of Plastic
5 July 2016 Paradigm Ocean Trash Cleanup Test Underway
23 June 2016 The Economist Garbage In, Garbage Out: Marine Plastic
22 June 2016 The Guardian Dutch Prototype Clean-up Boom Brings Pacific Plastics Solution a Step Closer
22 June 2016 NOS Prototype Inzamelmachine Voor Plasticsoep De Noordzee In
14 June 2016 El Pais Océanos de plástico
14 June 2016 HUFFPOST Passion-driven Innovation to Save Our Oceans
9 June 2016 The Times Sea-cleaning dam stretches its arms
8 June 2016 HUFFPOST 21-Year-Old’s Miracle Ocean-Cleaning Tech Ready To Get Its Feet Wet
13 May 2016 Inhabitat Plastic-scooping Ocean Cleanup project wins prestigious Katerva Award
11 February 2016 HUFFPOST The Largest Ocean Cleanup In History Will Begin By 2020, And A 21-year-old Is Leading The Way.
2 February 2016 The Sydney Morning Herald Boyan Slat’s high school project raises millions to clean up world’s oceans
1 February 2016 The Washington Post Can the ‘largest cleanup in history’ save the ocean?
31 December 2015 Inhabitat Ocean Cleanup Array to be tested in the North Sea next year
13 November 2015 The Guardian World’s largest ocean cleanup operation one step closer to launch
24 August 2015 Reuters Researchers sample enormous oceanic trash vortex ahead of clean-up proposal
24 August 2015 CBS Mega Expedition returns from Great Pacific Garbage Patch
24 August 2015 EcoWatch Boyan Slat’s ‘Mega Expedition’ Shows ‘Our Oceans Are Riddled With Plastic’
29 May 2015 Aljazeera World’s first ocean system targeting plastic pollution to launch in 2016
8 April 2015 EcoWatch 20 Year Old Claims He Can Rid the World’s Oceans of Plastic
26 March 2013 Inhabitat 19-Year-Old Develops Ocean Cleanup Array That Could Remove 7,250,000 Tons Of Plastic From the World’s Oceans

our founder and ceo

Boyan Slat (27 July 1994) is a Dutch inventor and entrepreneur, passionate about creating megaprojects to address planetary problems. He is the founder and CEO of The Ocean Cleanup; a non-profit organization developing and scaling solutions to rid the world’s oceans of plastic.

our scientific publications

Seasonal transport, retention, and river-to-ocean transfer dynamics of floating macro-debris in the Umgeni River and estuarine lagoon, South Africa

August 2026, article in a peer-reviewed journal,
Nature Scientific Reports

Tadiwanashe Gutsa, Cristina Trois and Thomas Mani
- Publication type: article in a peer-reviewed journal
- Publication journal : Nature Scientific Reports
- Publication date: August, 2026
- DOI: 10.1038/s41598-026-62433-2
Abstract

Riverine floating macroplastics are considered to contribute a substantial portion of marine plastic pollution, yet the spatiotemporal, geomorphological and hydrological factors that influence river debris passage are poorly understood. To address this, we conducted three field campaigns in the Umgeni River, South Africa, during hydrologically distinct periods (dry season, wet season and recessive season). We deployed GPS drifters (n = 66 + 4 pilot), each with a density of 0.94 g/cm^3 to mimic floating macroplastics (>5 cm) across five tributaries and the main river. We analysed the drifter trajectories during each campaign to investigate seasonal daily transport rates, retention zones and episodes, and river-to-ocean emission rates. Observed drifter trajectories showed modest seasonal differences in mean daily transport and retention counts. Our pilot drifters captured the 1:50–100 year return period flood occurring in April 2022 showing substantial flushing downstream (0.58 km day^− 1) to the Indian Ocean. Mean retention durations showed a notable decrease from the dry period (mean = 508 h) towards both the wet and recessive periods (mean = 230 h and mean = 40 h; respectively), indicating increased debris mobility during the wet season. Drifters were retained frequently in upstream river sections along meanders and vegetated banks, which accounted for 48% of all retention events but the estuary emerged as the dominant sink with long-term retention (with mean retention >10 days) thus limiting drifter exports into the ocean. Our study presents quantitative insights of floating macroplastic transport across interconnected riverine domains over three seasons. The results provide novel empirical data on seasonal plastic mobility, retention zones and highlight episodic nature of debris flushing during floods. These findings support river plastic transport modelling and targeted debris cleanup and mitigation policy frameworks.
- Go to publication
Automated debris imaging system: calibrated global monitoring of floating marine litter using ship-based cameras and deep learning

July 2026, article in a peer-reviewed journal,
Environmental Research Communications

Robin de Vries, Helen Wolter, Sean Dalton, Doug Klink, Mattia Romero, Peter Puskic, Sarah-Jeanne Royer and Laurent Lebreton
- Publication type: article in a peer-reviewed journal
- Publication journal : Environmental Research Communications
- Publication date: July 2026
- Collaborators : The Ocean Cleanup, Rotterdam, The Netherlands The Modelling House, Raglan, New Zealand
- DOI: 10.1088/2515-7620/ae8152
Abstract

Continuous and global observation techniques are required for a comprehensive understanding of the mass balance and the temporal trends of plastic pollution in the aquatic environment. Efforts to achieve large-scale automated monitoring of floating marine debris have accelerated in recent years. For example, satellite-based mapping of floating marine debris in coastal regions has made substantial progress, aided by studies on the use of multispectral, hyperspectral, thermal infrared, polarimetry, synthetic aperture radar, and other methods. Satellite-based methods have proven challenging for the open ocean, where floating marine debris is too dispersed. Specifically, large floating macroplastics (>50 cm) constitute a significant part of the ocean plastic mass budget, but are poorly quantifiable even by classical methods, such as surface trawls and visual observations. Here, we demonstrate further refinements and a first-ever global campaign of the recently introduced Automated Debris Imaging System (ADIS). This technology employs optical imagery and deep learning to detect and classify floating macroplastics along vessel transects. For every detection, a geo-tagged snippet is created, allowing for human validation and filtering of false positives. Since the initial proof-of-concept, we have compiled a global dataset, comprising over 27 million images (165 TB), spanning 14 554 km2 over the north and south Pacific, north and south Atlantic, and Indian Ocean. In total, we identified more than 20 000 floating macroplastic items. Crucially, this study includes validation of the ADIS approach using concurrent surface net-trawl samples, enabling an assessment of detection accuracy and precision. These findings represent a major step forward in the development of scalable, high-resolution monitoring tools for marine plastic pollution in the open ocean.
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