Das kann kein Meer mehr schlucken

18-year-old Boyan Slat combines environmentalism, entrepreneurism and technology to tackle global issues of sustainability. After diving in Greece, and coming across more plastic bags than fish, he wondered; "why can't we clean this up?"

Every year, millions of tons of plastic enter the oceans, of which the majority spills out from rivers. A portion of this plastic travels to ocean garbage patches, getting caught in a vortex of circulating currents. If no action is taken, the plastic will increasingly impact our ecosystems, health, and economies.

The 17 goals are all interconnected, and in order to leave no one behind, it is important that we achieve them by 2030.

WE AIM TO CLEAN UP 90% OF FLOATING OCEAN PLASTIC 

The Ocean Cleanup is a non-profit organization developing advanced technologies to rid the oceans of plastic. To achieve this objective, we have to work on a combination of closing the source and cleaning up what has already accumulated in the ocean and doesn’t go away by itself. This goal means we plan to put ourselves out of business – once we have completed this project, our work is done.

CLEANING THE OCEAN

The Ocean Cleanup is developing a passive cleanup method, which uses the natural oceanic forces to rapidly and cost-effectively clean up the plastic already in the oceans. With a full fleet of cleanup systems in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, we aim to clean up 50% of its plastic every five years.

The Ocean Cleanup's System 001/B has successfully captured 60 1-cubic-meter bags of plastic from the Great Pacific garbage patch and returned it safely to Vancouver, British Columbia, where the organization held a press conference today to discuss its plans to develop the plastic into reusable products. We spoke with CEO Boyan Slat about what needs to be done next. The Ocean Cleanup launches to the Great Pacific Garbage Patch https://youtu.be/nYC4Q-0wcAc​ Boyan Slat talks up his latest invention, The Interceptor https://youtu.be/bMenLxORN6M​ The Ocean Cleanup unveils The Interceptor; a river-based plastic catcher https://youtu.be/dkXCUXj2FcA