Millions of tons of plastic have entered the oceans (UNEP 2005) Plastic concentrates in five rotating currents, called gyres (Maximenko et al., 2012) In these gyres there is on average 6x more plastic than zooplankton by dry weight (Moore et al., 2001)1/3rd of all oceanic plastic is within the great Pacific Garbage Patch (Cózar et al, 2014) http://www.theoceancleanup.com/ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6IjaZ2g-21E

1. IT'S FEASIBLE!
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The Problem

2. The plastic pollution problem
Millions of tons of plastic have entered the oceans (UNEP 2005)
Plastic concentrates in five rotating currents, called gyres (Maximenko et al., 2012)
In these gyres there is on average six times more plastic than zooplankton by dry weight (Moore et al.,
2001)
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The Solution
It is of course essential to first close the tap, to prevent any more plastic from
reaching the ocean in the first place.
However, this will not be a solution for the plastics already trapped in the
currents of the gyres.
The Ocean Cleanup works to develop world’s first feasible method to clean
the gyres of plastic, using the currents to our advantage.

3. Extraction
Why move through the oceans, if the oceans can move through you? An array of floating
barriers first catches and concentrates the debris, enabling a platform to efficiently extract the
plastic afterwards. We have now proven The Ocean Cleanup Array concept is likely a feasible
and viable method to remove almost half the plastic from the North Pacific Garbage patch in 10
years, while being an estimated 7900x faster and 33x cheaper than conventional methods. The
Ocean Cleanup now works towards a large-scale and operational pilot in 3-4 years’ time.
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Prevention
Prevention is an essential part of stopping plastic pollution, but will require radical changes in all
levels of society.
The Ocean Cleanup aims to assist with these efforts by stressing its importance, and by raising
awareness about the problem and its solutions. Obviously, prevention is something we are all
responsible for.
Interception
In the second phase of the project, The Ocean Cleanup plans to develop spin-offs of our
passive collection technology for implementation in river deltas and other waterways that
transport plastic to the oceans. This could provide a rapid reduction of the influx of new plastics
into the oceans.
About Us

4. 19-year-old Boyan Slat combines environmentalism, entrepreneurism and
technology to tackle global issues of sustainability.
While diving in Greece, he became frustrated when coming across more
plastic bags than fish, and wondered: "why can't we clean this up?"
Working to show the feasibility of his concept, Boyan gave lead to a team of
approximately 100 people.
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Florian Dirkse
Internal communication & events
Jan de Sonneville
Lead engineer
Norbert Fraunholcz
Processing & Recycling coordinator
Leonid Pavlov
CFD & CM coordinator
Nicholas P. Katsepontes

5. Maritime & Environmental law coordinator
Julia Reisser
Lead oceanographer
Blog
Responding to critics
I never intended to write this piece. The articles I am about to comment on are now over a year...
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08
JUN

6. It's feasible!
Watch The Ocean Cleanup Release Event which took place in New York City on June 3rd where
the...
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03
JUN

7. June 3rd
www.theoceancleanup.com
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20
MAY
30

8. The Ocean Cleanup T-Shirt Design Contest
In preparation of a merchandise line, we are now looking for great designs to print on both...
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Support Us
Crowdfunding
To help fund the major next step of the project, we have now launched a new crowdfunding campaign.
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Collaborate
30
MAR

9. To accelerate our development, we are open to collaborations with companies and institutes.
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Join our team
Do you want to work in a team of volunteers with a passion for oceans that is working on the biggest
environmental cleanup in history?
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Contact
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Postal Address
The Ocean Cleanup
Stevinweg 1
2628 CN Delft
The Netherlands