A net full of garbage being unloaded onto a boat

The Ocean Cleanup will be making its 100 plastic extraction from the Great Pacific Garbage Patch (GPGP) within the next few days.

Extraction #100, expected to be either 28 or 29 May 2024, will be livestreamed.

“This is an important milestone in a key year for The Ocean Cleanup,” says Boyan Slat, founder and CEO. “We’ve come a long way since our first extraction in 2019.”

The Ocean Cleanup captured its first plastic (the first ‘extraction’) in GPGP in 2019 with System 001, following years of trials and testing with a variety of concepts. Through System 002 and now the larger and more efficient System 03, the organisation says it has consistently improved its operations.

“During the 2024 season, with System 03, we aim to demonstrate that we are ready to scale up, and with it, confine the Great Pacific Garbage Patch to the history books,” says Slat.

The non-profit project employs a dual strategy: cleaning up legacy floating plastic in GPGP (the world’s largest accumulation of floating plastic), while stopping the flow of plastic from the world’s most polluting rivers. As of May 2024, the organisation has collected over 11 million kilos (24 million lbs) of plastic from aquatic ecosystems around the world.

The livestream will be hosted on The Ocean Cleanup’s YouTube channel and via X (formerly known as Twitter).

Earlier this year, Ocean Cleanup deployed its first Interceptor river cleanup solution in the Chao Phraya River, Bangkok – part of a wider partnership to tackle plastic pollution leaking from one the world’s busiest working rivers.  One of its partners in that project is the UK’s top plastic polluting company: Coca-Cola (given the moniker by Surfers Against Sewage). The project will see Interceptor 019 extract trash while helping the organisation learn more about plastic pollution in Bangkok’s rivers and canals.   

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