The Ocean Cleanup Floats $4 Billion Cleanup Plan
The Ocean Cleanup states that it can make the Great Pacific Garbage Patch go away within five years to the tune of $4 billion. During a brief stopover in San Francisco late last week, founder and CEO Boyan Slat plus key members of the team met with press, sponsors and fans, while their two 73.2-meter System 03 vessels attracted attention at the Pier 15 dock beside the Exploratorium. Friday’s reveal of $4 billion and five years is the first time both a total cost and a timeline have been shared for eliminating a growing environmental hazard — the Great Pacific Garbage Patch (GPGP).
During the past three years, The Ocean Cleanup has removed more than one million pounds of trash from the GPGP, or 0.5% of the region’s total accumulated debris. Slat states the company’s present technology and method for locating and removing debris could continue, but their analysis yields elimination in 10 years and at a cost of $7.5 billion. He’s stumping for funds to achieve a far more ambitious plan — one that works with data and computer modeling — and predicts that operations could eliminate our plastic problem at a cost of $4 billion. In a live broadcast Slat called upon the world, governments, corporations, individuals and foundations to prioritize efforts to clean the marine environment.
In 2025, The Ocean Cleanup will take a one-year operational hiatus in order to deploy a new hotspot-hunting initiative designed to map hot zones, or areas of intense plastic accumulation, in the GPGP. This will make removal efforts more fruitful.
It’s been the intent of the team to revisit San Francisco; six years ago, System 01 headed out under the Golden Gate Bridge with a mission to start removing the massive collection of discarded plastic that clogs our oceans and waterways, starting in the Pacific Ocean. According to The Ocean Cleanup, plastic pollution is one of the most urgent problems the ocean faces today, costing the world up to $2.5 trillion per year in damage to economies, industries and environment.
We’re hopeful that Slat’s plan and predictions are reasonably accurate and that The Ocean Cleanup succeeds in its five-year plan. In the meantime, learn more about The Ocean Cleanup in a previous ‘Lectronic Latitude.
I think I understand the goal of clearing the present accumulation of years of irresponsible disposal, BUT what will be done to keep the gyre from again amassing huge amounts of the debris from continued behavior?
$4B!!? What a huge waste of money…
The Ocean Cleanup has been a waste of money and a boondoggle since it started. The results are pitiful given what was invested in this high-profile “solution”. People like it because it provides a feel good solution so we don’t have to change our plastic-consuming ways. The garbage patch will never go away unless we stop manufacturing vasts amounts of plastic — as Bay-area NPO THE STORY OF STUFF PROJECT (www.storyofstuff.org) has made clear in so many ways. Story of Stuff’s analogy of a bathtub is very easy to understand: If you pull the drain plug on a bathtub, it will never empty as long as the tap is putting more water in, than out. Coca-Cola alone is putting 100 billion (yes, with a “B”) plastic bottles into the world every year. Until we force companies to stop (by passing the cost of cleanup to the source and not buying their products), it will never change.
Bruce, you are being very dismissive of Slat’s entrepreneurial and environmental instincts and it’s shameful of you. Slat and his teamed have developed a technology to remove vast quantities of plastic from the ocean and he should be celebrated for it. Yes, as a civilization we must stop producing more plastic and the worst perpetrators of plastic pollution come from Asia and Central and South America. Slat’s team have developed technology to help identify the leading rivers around the globe that are major contributors of this plastic into the ocean and have created specialized garbage collectors to capture that plastic. Countries have been buying this technology and it’s working to divert plastic from entering the ocean. Your comment smacks of cynicism and makes you come across as a “negative Nancy” when you should instead be supporting The Ocean Cleanup and help it deliver on its plans.
This has been proven to be false over and over. But it makes good money. With the government requirement of only 3% having to go to the cause….what a get rich scheme!