The Ocean Cleanup celebrated a mind-blowing milestone, removing 200 000 kgs of plastic from the Pacific Ocean!
Global (13 April, 2023) — In a wave of good news for the Pacific Ocean, the Ocean Cleanup celebrated a marvellous milestone with 200 000 kgs of plastic removed.
The Great Pacific Garbage Patch (GPGP) has been on the Dutch non-profit’s radar for years, with a goal of removing 90% of floating ocean plastic by 2040.
BREAKING: 200,000 kg of plastic extracted from the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.
System 002/B has made its first extraction of 2023 – 6260 kg of plastic out of the GPGP, bringing us to an exciting milestone – together, we have cleaned up over 200,000 kg of plastic from the GPGP. pic.twitter.com/wkc0IAW3dl
— The Ocean Cleanup (@TheOceanCleanup) April 4, 2023
The brainchild of the then 16-year-old Boyan Slat who saw more plastic than fish when diving in Greece, turned into a movement. Boyan dropped out of high school to follow his clean ocean dream, and today he and his team are celebrating incredible waves of change.
Thanks to tech targeting cleaner oceans, the Ocean Clean Up team is able to focus on plastic hotspots where litter gathers as to place their clean-up systems directly in impacted areas.
From millimetre-sized to large clumps of plastic and fishing nets, there’s no size or shape of plastic the Ocean Clean Up ignores.
And, the team is currently working on low-carbon fuels for their support vessels to ensure that their call-to-task is as low-impact as possible.
The news has been celebrated around the world, but many have had the same question. What happens to the plastic?
According to the organisation, the plastic is recycled and given a purpose by being turned into products and sold to raise funds for new ocean cleaning missions.
Meanwhile, South Africans also drummed together recently for oceans closer to home thanks to Wavescape’s incredible festival with all-things-ocean in mind. Together (and with the help of some highly talented artists and a David Attenborough masterpiece) they raised nearly a quarter of R 1 million for our oceans.
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