The Ocean Cleanup : what is it and how does it work?

As you might have seen on our website, we donate a percentage of every sale on our site to The Ocean Cleanup and we match our customers’ contributions. As ocean lovers, we believe it is important to do our part in cleaning up and protecting what we love so much!

One of our company's missions here at ProShot is to participate in keeping our oceans healthy and clean, protecting marine life and leaving healthy oceans for future generations.

In order to do so, we support two organisations: The Ocean Cleanup and Saving the Blue.

While there are plenty of great organizations doing wonderful things to protect the oceans, we feel that The Ocean Cleanup and Saving the Blue have an inspiring vision to tackle issues such as marine debris or shark conservation, which is why we selected this NGO to support.

In this article we will tell you a bit more about what The Ocean Cleanup is trying to accomplish and how.

The plastic problem

Each day, tons of plastics enter the oceans. A lot of it is brought to the sea by rivers, carrying millions of tons of plastic each year to oceans.

This plastic trash does not decompose for decades and is creating massive garbage patches in the middle of the ocean, depending on the currents. It pollutes river beds and oceans, creating a massive debris problem everywhere. One issue of course is the pollution itself, garbage floating in the ocean or washing ashore. Another problem is the impact this trash has on marine life: discarded nets or plastic bags can trap underwater animals. Another issue is that the plastic breaks down into tiny pieces, called “microplastics”. These are ingested by fishes, creating health issues for the animals but also for those who consume them.

Plastic debris are everywhere in the oceans

The Ocean Cleanup:

In 2013, young Boyan Slat founded The Ocean Cleanup, a non-profit organization. Its main goal is to tackle this garbage problem in our oceans with the use of technology.

The first system developed and tested is designed to collect and push together garbage floating in the ocean. The main area of focus was the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, located between California and Hawaii, estimated to be at least 1.6 million km2 (that is roughly the size of Alaska).

After the testing of a first system that was not as efficient as planned, the Ocean Cleanup team tested and deployed System 002. The idea behind it is quite simple: create a floating barrier that will harvest plastic trash using the currents in the area, then remove it from the ocean (and dispose of it properly of course!). The system is a long U-shaped barrier that guides the plastic into giant nets at its far end. By studying and modelling the currents, the most appropriate locations are determined. The debris are then loaded onto a boat and disposed of.

This system has now been harvesting plastic for a year in the Pacific Ocean. As of November 2022, it has collected over 169,000 KG of plastic. More deployments of similar systems are planned in the future and The Ocean Cleanup’s team is working constantly on improving it for more efficiency. An improved version of this system, System 003, is now getting ready for deployment.

System 002 in action - photos courtesy of The Ocean Cleanup

Rivers’ cleanup

As the trash coming down the rivers to the ocean is a huge part of the problem, the teams at The Ocean Cleanup designed a system for rivers called Interceptors.

Their Interceptors are designed to capture plastic floating down the river and keep it in place until it is removed. There are now 10 of these systems in place in various countries in the world such as Jamaica, Indonesia or the USA. Because of the topography and flow of different rivers, the set up is a bit different on each location. The idea, however, remains the same: retains plastic trash before it reaches the ocean, then removes and disposes of it properly.

Various Interceptor systems in action - photos courtesy of The Ocean Cleanup

What can you do to help?

The Ocean Cleanup is a non-profit organization that has grown from the initial vision and idea of a single person to a full organization. The Ocean Cleanup has teams dedicated to engineering, fundraising, marketing and PR, and more.

As a non-profit organization, The Ocean Cleanup relies mainly on donations to pursue its mission. You can donate through our site where we match all customer contributions, you can donate directly through their website, or you can support their action by purchasing merchandising.

And of course, each purchase you make with us also contributes to The Ocean Cleanup!