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Oceans, Research

Chasing Plastics: How to Close the Ocean Plastic Mass Balance

At The Ocean Cleanup we believe that you cannot solve a problem if you do not fully understand it. For this reason, we have put extensive efforts into fundamental plastic…

11 January 2019
Oceans

Wilson to Return to Port for Repair and Upgrade

Due to a structural malfunctioning of the cleanup system, today we made the decision to return to port earlier than planned. We will set sail as soon as an appropriate…

31 December 2018 Boyan Slat
Engineering, Oceans

Testing Continues to Understand System Behavior

Shift 3 has recently arrived at the System 001 location in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch (GPGP), where a series of tests will be conducted to help us understand why…

18 December 2018
Oceans

Cleanup Commences: System 001 Has Arrived

On October 3rd, System 001 embarked on its final leg of the journey to the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. We are happy to announce that it has reached its intended…

19 October 2018
Oceans

Pacific Trials Results: System 001 is Go

What we are doing is unprecedented. There has never been a cleanup system of this magnitude deployed in the ocean. Therefore, continual testing is integral to our design process. We…

5 October 2018 Boyan Slat
Oceans

Pacific Trials – The Gateway to the Great Pacific Garbage Patch

Following the successful launch from the San Francisco Bay, System 001 traveled 350 nautical miles to commence the Pacific Trials. The trials will last approximately two weeks and are a…

19 September 2018
SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA, September 8, 2018 – The Ocean Cleanup Deploying System 001 into the Great Pacific Garbage Patch - Photo: Pierre AUGIER for The OCEAN CLEANUP
Oceans

System 001 has launched into the Pacific

After 5 years of research, engineering and testing, we launched the world’s first ocean cleanup system from San Francisco Bay, marking the start of the cleanup. The system is now…

9 September 2018
Oceans

System 001 Assembly Completed

After six months of assembly, we can now announce that System 001 is officially complete. It is currently positioned entirely in the Seaplane Lagoon – the sheltered body of water…

1 September 2018
Engineering, Oceans

The Final Design of the World’s First Cleanup System

On May 11th, 2017 we unveiled our new method to clean up the world's ocean garbage patches. Instead of having one massive cleanup system fixed to the seabed, we unveiled…

21 July 2018 Boyan Slat
In May 2018, a 120-meter section of the system successfully passed a tow test in the Pacific Ocean, being subjected to waves of up to 5 meters.
Engineering, Oceans

Successful Tow Test Validates System 001 Seaworthiness

On May 19th, from our assembly yard in Alameda, a 120-meter section of our cleanup system was towed out of San Francisco Bay and into the Pacific to conduct a…

2 July 2018 Arjen Tjallema
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