The Ocean Cleanup

10 min read Original article ↗

We develop and scale technologies to rid the oceans of plastic

Our cleaning technologies are deployed around the world as we conduct the largest cleanup in history. For over ten years, The Ocean Cleanup has been researching, extracting, and monitoring plastic pollution in oceans and rivers globally – with tens of millions of kilograms removed to date.

A planet-sized problem

Trillions of pieces of plastic pollute our oceans today, and the problem is worsening. This plastic has a devastating impact on marine wildlife and ecosystems. Plastics can persist for many decades, continuously degrading into microplastics. These can be ingested by wildlife and later enter the human food chain. Plastic pollution is a global crisis requiring urgent action.

We aim to clean up 90% of floating ocean plastic pollution by 2040

The Ocean Cleanup is a non-profit organization developing and scaling technologies to rid the oceans of plastic. To achieve this objective, we clean legacy pollution from the garbage patches as well as from coastal ecosystems, stop plastic flows from rivers or waterways, and advocate for stronger international plastic regulations.

  • environmental charity, save oceans, donate to ocean conservation, donate to save the ocean, ocean conservancy donation, donate to the ocean, oceana System 002 deployed in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch

    Cleaning
    the ocean

    The Ocean Cleanup is cleaning the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, an accumulation zone with over 100,000,000 kilograms of floating plastic. At the same time, we advocated for a Global Plastics Treaty to prevent ocean plastic pollution.

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  • environmental charity, save oceans, donate to ocean conservation, donate to save the ocean, ocean conservancy donation, donate to the ocean, oceana Interceptor 002 in Klang river, Selangor, Malaysia

    Intercepting
    in rivers

    To clean the oceans, we tackle the 1000 rivers around the world, which contribute to 80% of riverine pollution. We aim to close the tap on polluting waterways through our interceptors as well as cleaning up legacy plastic on coasts.

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  • environmental charity, save oceans, donate to ocean conservation, donate to save the ocean, ocean conservancy donation, donate to the ocean, oceana Plastic item floating in water

    Help remove plastic

    Every donation fuels plastic removal missions and drives new solutions to stop plastic at its source.

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    Work with purpose

    Join a mission-driven team combining technology and impact to tackle one of the world’s biggest environmental challenges.

  • environmental charity, save oceans, donate to ocean conservation, donate to save the ocean, ocean conservancy donation, donate to the ocean, oceana

    Stay in the loop

    See progress as it happens — from deployments to discoveries — and find out how people like you are making change possible.

Global mission Partners

Thanks to our partners we can clean the oceans.

We are honored to have a committed group of partners helping with in-kind support and funding.

The Ocean Cleanup is a bold idea to confront the significant challenge of restoring our ocean ecosystem. This is a unique opportunity to profoundly impact our environment, pursuing an ambitious solution to remove plastic waste from our oceans with significant benefits for wildlife, the food chain and community health.

We are your big fans and admirers, and we are so happy that we got to partner with you on Interceptor 005, which we refer to as Neon Moon 1

The first real plan to try to clean things up.

With Boyan's innovative leadership, I believe The Ocean Cleanup will have an incredibly positive impact on the future of our oceans. I hope other leaders will join us in supporting these efforts.

[The Ocean Cleanup's] success could significantly reduce marine animals fatalities and enable numerous marine species [...] to survive

A symbol of not only preaching, but also acting.

In order to keep 7.5 billion of us alive and prosperous and healthy, it takes work and it takes initiative. [...] That's what The Ocean Cleanup is all about and we absolutely need their work.

[...] there is no doubt that your efforts will truly have lasting, positive impact on our local and international communities.

Congratulations on the success so far. [...] I am really inspired by the work you guys continue to do.

What is interesting to see [...] is that you are using nature to solve the mess we are doing on this planet.

Boyan Slat is inspiring people, organizations and governments to find solutions to the escalating threat of plastic debris in our oceans, while also serving as a reminder to us all that more work needs to be done [...]

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