The Ocean Cleanup Project: A Revolutionary Approach to Plastic Pollution

The Ocean Cleanup Project is a groundbreaking initiative aimed at tackling one of the most pressing environmental issues of our time – plastic pollution in the world's oceans. The project's CEO, Boyan Slat, explained that the primary reason for undertaking this endeavor is to create a way to fund the cleanup of plastic waste in the ocean. However, it's also a proof-of-concept to demonstrate that it's possible to collect plastic from the ocean and transform it into something beautiful.

The project's technology involves using interceptors to collect plastic debris from rivers and oceans. This approach has been tested successfully in various locations around the world. The Ocean Cleanup Project currently has three interceptors deployed in different regions, including Jakarta, Malaysia, and Indonesia. These interceptors have shown remarkable efficiency, with one recent deployment capturing 50 cubic meters of plastic in just four and a half hours.

The project's goal is not only to clean up plastic waste but also to scale up its operations to make a significant impact on the ocean's pollution. The technology has undergone significant development and refinement over the years, with the latest iteration being System Two. This system aims to catch even larger volumes of plastic than before and deploy it to tackle the Pacific Garbage Patch.

One of the most exciting aspects of the project is its plans to create products from recycled plastic waste. The Ocean Cleanup Project has already started producing sunglasses made from recycled plastic, with every pair allowing the organization to clean 24 football fields worth of Great Pacific garbage bags. These sunglasses are available for purchase on the Ocean Cleanup website, with a limited supply expected due to the availability of recycled plastic.

The project's efforts have been hindered by the challenges posed by COVID-19, including lockdowns and limited access to spare parts. Despite these setbacks, the organization remains committed to its mission and is working tirelessly to refine its technology and increase its impact.

A concerning trend in recent years has been the significant increase in single-use plastic production due to low oil prices. This has led to a substantial amount of plastic waste flowing into the ocean. The Ocean Cleanup Project believes that this trend will continue, making it essential for organizations like theirs to push forward with innovative solutions.

The project's plans are ambitious, and its focus on scaling up operations is crucial to making a significant difference in the fight against plastic pollution. With its cutting-edge technology and commitment to sustainability, the Ocean Cleanup Project is poised to become a leading force in tackling one of the world's most pressing environmental challenges.

As the organization continues to develop new products and technologies, it's clear that the impact of The Ocean Cleanup Project will be felt for years to come. With the support of its community and the growing demand for sustainable solutions, this initiative is poised to make a real difference in the fight against plastic pollution.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enocean pollution is a major problem on this planet and we're finding that the plastic floating on top of the water in the great pacific garbage patch is breaking down into micro plastics and sinking to the bottom of the ocean making it even more difficult to clean up so now what there are many companies working on solutions to clean up the ocean but one company the ocean cleanup has developed a system for pulling plastic out of the ocean and is now creating products made of that recycled plastic joining me today is buoyance slat of the ocean cleanup and they have come full circle today they are unveiling a new product they have produced out of plastic that they have harvested from the great pacific garbage patch boy and thanks for joining me and how you doing today pleasure thanks for having me so you guys are unveiling a pair of sunglasses that you made out of ocean plastic can you just walk us through that process how did you break apart the plastic and how are you producing these sunglasses sure so uh it's been quite a challenge really of course the most challenging step was to actually collect the plastic the the great pacific garbage patches is 2 000 kilometers from shore uh you know took years to of course develop the technology to a point that we harvested our first plastic but we got that done last year we took the first plastic to port and then we had to set up our own supply chain to to turn that the trash into basically treasure to clean up more trash because of course we are non-profit so the only reason why we do this is to help clean more plastic from the ocean and um you know the idea is that uh by recycling this into a beautiful sustainable products in this case sunglasses that we hope to create a new revenue stream through which we can actually fund the continuation of the cleanup so once it was imported of course we then had to sort the waste we had to wash it shred it then recycle it into some new new base material and eventually with our partners we were able to turn this into i think a really nice product so can you walk us through the process so i've seen like the little jars they look like little beads of plastic yeah so so when the plastic comes to to land it's it's really quite quite mixed and it's encrusted with salt it's uh the stuff sometimes has been floating out there for for decades so it's it's really quite degraded as well the first thing we had to do is to uh to basically separate the stuff that's still usable from the stuff that that's more degraded to really get to the pure plastic we had to shred it we had to mold it into indeed those pellets then we added a few percent of additives to ensure that the material is strong enough to give it its color back and that then we were able to uh to use injection molding with to actually mold into uh the the sunglasses so one question i had was are the lenses part of that recycled plastic that you found too because i was wondering like how do they do lenses yeah no if only you could do that no it's really the frame that's uh that's made from sure it's the frame okay cool other parts we um everything that could be made out of recycled material we we did so from of course the packaging to um you know the case the case is coming in we recycled that from material that used to be our first cleanup system and even like the hinges of the sunglasses are made from recycled stainless steel so we what could be recycled we did but of course it's really the frame that's made from the plastic we took out of the edge i got to say they look pretty cool they look really stylish do you have a pair that you could model for us oh yeah so here they are and uh yeah i think it's really quite incredible to to look at this there's a really premium feel to it and uh do you think this was toxic garbage floating in the middle of the ocean about a year ago it's uh yeah to me quite quite unbelievable really so they look really neat they're all they're pretty awesome and it has the ocean cleanup logo on the side does yeah and um and actually on the inside it has a qr code and if you then scan that with your phone you can actually see footage of plastic being taken out of the ocean that's now in your pair of sunglasses so that's pretty awesome so yeah one thing i don't know right now is how much do they cost so um each pair is going on sale now for 199 available through our website and with it we of course using all of the proceeds to go back to the mission with which actually which means that actually one pair uh equates to cleaning uh 24 football fields worth hopefully with a garbage bench so of course we're not doing this because we you know we thought the world needs another you know beautiful product it's really the reason why we're doing this is because we um we want to create a way to to fund the cleanup really it's also kind of like a proof of concept too that you guys are able to go out in the ocean collect plastic and make something beautiful out of it correct yeah um so it's never been done before um the and of course we're now quite limited in terms of the amount of plastic that we have it was because the plastic was just an addition the main purpose last year was to to test the technology uh but of course in coming years we'll get hopefully a much larger volume of plastic to shore and hopefully we'll be able to uh to really scale this up as well so do you guys have systems currently running right now in the pacific garbage patch um so at this moment we of course have the interceptors in in rivers yeah in terms of the clean plastic that's already in the ocean um this year was really about developing the the next generation technology um so taking the lessons from what we learned last year in the patch and applying them to the the system that we're deploying next year which is going to be system two we can't catch plastic but now it's about scaling it to a size that can actually uh clean the clean the patch and um yeah so hopefully next year we'll uh we'll be deploying that in the patch um so how many interceptors do you guys have deployed right now around the world so we have three interceptors in the water right now one is in jakarta one is in malaysia and once indonesia and yeah i hope to really start out rolling out a lot more uh beginning of um the next year so in a few months from now so we're now preparing for series production and uh we'll hopefully see a lot more of the interceptions and ribs around the world how much garbage are they pulling out of the river on a daily basis do you guys have figures on that yeah so of course we're still in the um yeah kind of the debugging phase to to really get the uptime that we want this year actually quite challenging with uh with covets when of course if you can't empty them because the country's in lockdown because you're not going to have the the uptime that you want and uh and also when um we have to fly in spare parts all of that has been was really delayed this year um but um you know theoretical capacity is roughly um 50 50 cubic meters per load and the record catch that we had now was um full systems of 50 cubic meters in four and a half hours so uh so it's not bad uh but of course again i think we really need to work on getting the uh the uptime and the reliability where we want it to be i think there are some worrying trends in that yes of course the amount of single-use plastic has increased tremendously this year the uh because the oil price is extremely low right now as well which means that it's much more attractive to make new plastic rather than recycle existing plastic so i do think those are trends that you can expect to see back in the amount of plastic flowing to the ocean um so um yeah so it's definitely enough work to do still so do you guys have any other products in development now that you're that you're trying to create with the recycled plastic well i think we'll do we'll do a few more for sure it's uh we're just starting with sunglasses because i think it's uh it makes sense it's something durable so it doesn't end up like in the ocean and it's also something you carry around and of course the ocean clip we're fully dependent on word of mouth to uh raise awareness about what we do so um so that said i think sunglasses make sense um we had received tremendous amount of good suggestion i think from our supporters of what else we could make from this and um yeah so we're definitely thinking about doing more than just sunglasses uh but we're starting with one and then see how much uh interest there is and actually uh you know getting involved with this cool when will the sunglasses go on sale and where can people buy them so the ocean clip sunglasses are available right now through our website the oceancleanup.com and again every pair should uh be able to to allow us to clean 24 football fields worth of great pacific garbage bags that's amazing cool well thank you so much for your time boyan and good luck today on your big unveil i'm excited to watch it thank you i do recommend if you want one to get involved quickly because i think um yeah i do expect that because we can only make 25k of them now because of the amount of plastic we have i think the next plastic will be turned into sunglasses towards the end of next year so um cool yeah if you want to get hold of them i'd recommend signing up quickly youocean pollution is a major problem on this planet and we're finding that the plastic floating on top of the water in the great pacific garbage patch is breaking down into micro plastics and sinking to the bottom of the ocean making it even more difficult to clean up so now what there are many companies working on solutions to clean up the ocean but one company the ocean cleanup has developed a system for pulling plastic out of the ocean and is now creating products made of that recycled plastic joining me today is buoyance slat of the ocean cleanup and they have come full circle today they are unveiling a new product they have produced out of plastic that they have harvested from the great pacific garbage patch boy and thanks for joining me and how you doing today pleasure thanks for having me so you guys are unveiling a pair of sunglasses that you made out of ocean plastic can you just walk us through that process how did you break apart the plastic and how are you producing these sunglasses sure so uh it's been quite a challenge really of course the most challenging step was to actually collect the plastic the the great pacific garbage patches is 2 000 kilometers from shore uh you know took years to of course develop the technology to a point that we harvested our first plastic but we got that done last year we took the first plastic to port and then we had to set up our own supply chain to to turn that the trash into basically treasure to clean up more trash because of course we are non-profit so the only reason why we do this is to help clean more plastic from the ocean and um you know the idea is that uh by recycling this into a beautiful sustainable products in this case sunglasses that we hope to create a new revenue stream through which we can actually fund the continuation of the cleanup so once it was imported of course we then had to sort the waste we had to wash it shred it then recycle it into some new new base material and eventually with our partners we were able to turn this into i think a really nice product so can you walk us through the process so i've seen like the little jars they look like little beads of plastic yeah so so when the plastic comes to to land it's it's really quite quite mixed and it's encrusted with salt it's uh the stuff sometimes has been floating out there for for decades so it's it's really quite degraded as well the first thing we had to do is to uh to basically separate the stuff that's still usable from the stuff that that's more degraded to really get to the pure plastic we had to shred it we had to mold it into indeed those pellets then we added a few percent of additives to ensure that the material is strong enough to give it its color back and that then we were able to uh to use injection molding with to actually mold into uh the the sunglasses so one question i had was are the lenses part of that recycled plastic that you found too because i was wondering like how do they do lenses yeah no if only you could do that no it's really the frame that's uh that's made from sure it's the frame okay cool other parts we um everything that could be made out of recycled material we we did so from of course the packaging to um you know the case the case is coming in we recycled that from material that used to be our first cleanup system and even like the hinges of the sunglasses are made from recycled stainless steel so we what could be recycled we did but of course it's really the frame that's made from the plastic we took out of the edge i got to say they look pretty cool they look really stylish do you have a pair that you could model for us oh yeah so here they are and uh yeah i think it's really quite incredible to to look at this there's a really premium feel to it and uh do you think this was toxic garbage floating in the middle of the ocean about a year ago it's uh yeah to me quite quite unbelievable really so they look really neat they're all they're pretty awesome and it has the ocean cleanup logo on the side does yeah and um and actually on the inside it has a qr code and if you then scan that with your phone you can actually see footage of plastic being taken out of the ocean that's now in your pair of sunglasses so that's pretty awesome so yeah one thing i don't know right now is how much do they cost so um each pair is going on sale now for 199 available through our website and with it we of course using all of the proceeds to go back to the mission with which actually which means that actually one pair uh equates to cleaning uh 24 football fields worth hopefully with a garbage bench so of course we're not doing this because we you know we thought the world needs another you know beautiful product it's really the reason why we're doing this is because we um we want to create a way to to fund the cleanup really it's also kind of like a proof of concept too that you guys are able to go out in the ocean collect plastic and make something beautiful out of it correct yeah um so it's never been done before um the and of course we're now quite limited in terms of the amount of plastic that we have it was because the plastic was just an addition the main purpose last year was to to test the technology uh but of course in coming years we'll get hopefully a much larger volume of plastic to shore and hopefully we'll be able to uh to really scale this up as well so do you guys have systems currently running right now in the pacific garbage patch um so at this moment we of course have the interceptors in in rivers yeah in terms of the clean plastic that's already in the ocean um this year was really about developing the the next generation technology um so taking the lessons from what we learned last year in the patch and applying them to the the system that we're deploying next year which is going to be system two we can't catch plastic but now it's about scaling it to a size that can actually uh clean the clean the patch and um yeah so hopefully next year we'll uh we'll be deploying that in the patch um so how many interceptors do you guys have deployed right now around the world so we have three interceptors in the water right now one is in jakarta one is in malaysia and once indonesia and yeah i hope to really start out rolling out a lot more uh beginning of um the next year so in a few months from now so we're now preparing for series production and uh we'll hopefully see a lot more of the interceptions and ribs around the world how much garbage are they pulling out of the river on a daily basis do you guys have figures on that yeah so of course we're still in the um yeah kind of the debugging phase to to really get the uptime that we want this year actually quite challenging with uh with covets when of course if you can't empty them because the country's in lockdown because you're not going to have the the uptime that you want and uh and also when um we have to fly in spare parts all of that has been was really delayed this year um but um you know theoretical capacity is roughly um 50 50 cubic meters per load and the record catch that we had now was um full systems of 50 cubic meters in four and a half hours so uh so it's not bad uh but of course again i think we really need to work on getting the uh the uptime and the reliability where we want it to be i think there are some worrying trends in that yes of course the amount of single-use plastic has increased tremendously this year the uh because the oil price is extremely low right now as well which means that it's much more attractive to make new plastic rather than recycle existing plastic so i do think those are trends that you can expect to see back in the amount of plastic flowing to the ocean um so um yeah so it's definitely enough work to do still so do you guys have any other products in development now that you're that you're trying to create with the recycled plastic well i think we'll do we'll do a few more for sure it's uh we're just starting with sunglasses because i think it's uh it makes sense it's something durable so it doesn't end up like in the ocean and it's also something you carry around and of course the ocean clip we're fully dependent on word of mouth to uh raise awareness about what we do so um so that said i think sunglasses make sense um we had received tremendous amount of good suggestion i think from our supporters of what else we could make from this and um yeah so we're definitely thinking about doing more than just sunglasses uh but we're starting with one and then see how much uh interest there is and actually uh you know getting involved with this cool when will the sunglasses go on sale and where can people buy them so the ocean clip sunglasses are available right now through our website the oceancleanup.com and again every pair should uh be able to to allow us to clean 24 football fields worth of great pacific garbage bags that's amazing cool well thank you so much for your time boyan and good luck today on your big unveil i'm excited to watch it thank you i do recommend if you want one to get involved quickly because i think um yeah i do expect that because we can only make 25k of them now because of the amount of plastic we have i think the next plastic will be turned into sunglasses towards the end of next year so um cool yeah if you want to get hold of them i'd recommend signing up quickly you\n"