Ocean Cleanup's Ambitious Plan for the Great Pacific Garbage Patch

The Ocean Cleanup aims to eradicate the Great Pacific Garbage Patch in five years for $4 billion.

### The Ocean Cleanup's Ambitious Plan to Eradicate Plastic Pollution in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch
* 🌊 The Ocean Cleanup, led by founder **Boyan Slat**, announced a staggering estimated cost of **$7.5 billion** to clean up the Great Pacific Garbage Patch over the next **10 years** during a press conference in San Francisco.
* 💰 Slat emphasized that this cost would be funded through **philanthropic donations and government grants** aimed at **maintaining a clean ocean environment**.
* 🐢 The organization's current technology, System 03, consists of a **1.6-mile U-shaped barrier** that collects floating plastic as it is towed by two vessels, ensuring **minimal harm to marine wildlife**.
* 🌱 The cleanup process is expected to release approximately **90 kilotons of CO2 annually**, comparable to the emissions of a small town, but Slat believes the **benefits will far outweigh these emissions**.
* 🛰 Slat proposed that advancements in technology, such as computer modeling and drone tracking, could potentially **reduce the cleanup time to five years** and the cost to **$4 billion** through more efficient operations.
* 📊 He contextualized the **$4 billion cost**, noting it is **less than half of what Americans spend on Halloween decorations** each year and calls on governments and philanthropists to **support the initiative**.
* 🤝 In a follow-up interview, Slat expressed openness to licensing the technology to other organizations, emphasizing that the **primary goal is to eliminate the Great Pacific Garbage Patch**.
* 🔍 The Ocean Cleanup plans to focus on "**hotspot hunting**" in the coming year, aiming to **enhance efficiency and effectiveness** in their cleanup efforts.

The Ocean Cleanup, known for their ocean cleaning systems and River Interceptor Technologies, returned to San Francisco to reveal their total estimated cost for eradicating floating plastic pollution from the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, and the number was staggering. We're here at the Exploratorium in San Francisco, where the founder and CEO of The Ocean Cleanup, Boyan Slat, is holding a press conference to announce the organization's plans for the future. Boyan Slat took to the stage and revealed the total cost it would take to clean up the Great Pacific Garbage Patch within 10 years. Today, I'm very proud and excited to share with you that the results of the past 12 months of operations have now proven that we can clean up the Great Pacific Garbage Patch in a responsible way in 10 years' time at a cost of $7.5 billion. When it comes to the time and the money it would take, I really want to make clear here now, this is what we can do right now. You

know so take the average performance of the past 12 months, multiply that with a fleet of systems, let them operate for 10 years, and the patch will be gone. The estimated cost of 7.5 billion would be collected by philanthropic donations and grants from governments who have a stake in maintaining a clean ocean environment. Bo Slat explained how the plastic pollution in the ocean is costing all of us in real-world dollars and cents. Pollution is contributing to the slowing of carbon conversion in the ocean, which produces oxygen worldwide. The vast amounts of plastic debris covering the ocean's surface act as a barrier from the natural process of turning CO2 back into oxygen, not to mention the damage that microplastics are doing to ocean wildlife and the food supply. The ocean cleanup is currently using a piece of hardware known as System 03, which is a large floating U-shaped barrier spanning 1.6 miles or 2.5 km across and is being towed through the ocean by two large vessels at a slow

walking speed collecting floating debris as it moves. So, here are the twin ocean cleanup vessels, which cruise side by side and drag the ocean cleanup system through the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, collecting thousands of kilograms of plastic pollution. The u-shaped barrier directs plastic debris floating on the ocean's surface into a massive net at the center of the cleanup system called the retention zone. Once the retention zone gets full, the twin vessels maneuver to pull in the massive bag of plastic waste using powerful winches and a buoy system, and empty the debris onto the deck of the ship for sorting and recycling. Once on board, a team of the ocean cleanup crew manually sort the different types of plastic collected into categories, including fishing nets and solid plastics, and place it into massive collection bags to be brought back to shore to either be recycled or pelletized for use in new products. System O3 is equipped with multiple wildlife safety deterrence, including an array of underwater cameras for monitoring wildlife encounters, lighting for nighttime operations, and a safety hatch which can be opened remotely to

allow for fish to escape. The slow speed the system moves through the water also allows for fish and sea turtles to easily swim out of the way if they happen to come into contact with the barrier. Buoyant slat stressed the idea of cleaning up the Great Pacific Garbage Patch responsibly and efficiently. It acknowledged the safety features for mitigating harm to wildlife, as well as the CO2 emissions that would be expelled from the two massive vessels pulling system 03 through the ocean. According to the Ocean Cleanup's models and projections, they estimated that the energy needed for cleaning up the plastic pollution would result in expelling about 90 kilotons of CO2 into the atmosphere each year. This would be equivalent to the amount of CO2 emissions produced by the small town of Wheatland, Wyoming, in the United States, with a population of 3,300 residents. According to buy and slat, noting that the benefits of the cleanup would overwhelmingly outweigh not cleaning the ocean pollution. Beautiful, beautiful town.

um, but um, you know, honestly, I think we will be able to survive another weedland worth of carbon emissions. Buyant Slat went on to explain that he believes there could be a faster, more efficient, and less expensive way to clean up the Great Pacific Garbage Patch using computer modeling software, floating GPS trackers to help track the movement of floating plastic debris, and new drone technology to help identify hot spots where plastic accumulation is more dense. These models would allow the ocean cleanup vessels to more precisely snake through the garbage patch, following a more winding path where these dense patches of plastic pollution are more concentrated, increasing the efficiency of each catch. Utilizing what Slat calls hotspot hunting, he believes, based on their currently known plastic collection averages, that the Great Pacific Garbage Patch can actually be cleaned up in half the time at half the cost. We predict it is possible to clear the Great Pacific garbage patch in half the time at almost half the cost, so that means 5 years and 4 billion. So, this is going to be our focus.

for the coming year. You know, we're going to invest one year to save five. To put this price tag into context, know this: this $4 billion, it's less than half the amount that America is spending on Halloween decorations every year. It's the same amount as was spent on military expenditures in just the last 10 hours. It's less than a quarter of a percent of the net worth of the 10 richest people on Earth, and it's under 1% of the net profits of the world's plastic producers over the course of the cleanup. Slat then put out a call to the world governments and philanthropists to step up and make this happen because he and his team know that this is possible based on their annual collection numbers and calculations. When this cleanup starts, it's really up to you. So we now call upon the world, the governments, the companies, individuals to make this cleanup happen. We caught up with Boyan Slat after the event for a quick interview. You ever see

a future where you may license or open source this technology so that other nonprofits or other organizations can do the cleanup themselves. Yeah, look, we don't care who does this as long as it happens. So, you know, if somebody wants to use our technology, go ahead and do it, right? As long as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch is gone. So, no, I think we have a lot of knowledge about how to use it, how to operate it. So, um, and of course, we don't want to lean back and expect somebody else to do it. So, uh, but at the same time, uh, yeah, somebody else wants to do it. Be our guest. Now, what are your immediate plans following this press conference with the ocean cleanup? Are these ships going to go out and continue cleaning? We have one more trip scheduled for this year. So soon our festivals will be back in the patch for another 7-week run to, um, yeah, to harvest some more plastic, do some more testing, and um, and then the

coming year, we'll have a brief pause in offshore operations, at least in terms of cleanup operations, because we really want to double down and focus on the hotspot hunting. So, developing GPS trackers, getting the drone stuff sorted out, so that one year later, 2026, we can actually scale up at the level of performance that we want to see, where we can clean up the patch in 5 years for $4 billion. Like and subscribe to Cat, and let us know in the comments what you think about the ocean cleanup's plans to rid the world of ocean plastic pollution. And thanks for watching.

The Ocean Cleanup's $4 Billion Plan to Clean Up the Pacific Ocean

CNET is the premier destination for explaining and navigating the changing world around us. Through news, product reviews, price comparisons, and more, we’ll tell you what’s new in the parts of modern life that increasingly matter more — from health, home, and money to tech, culture, and climate — and how to get the most out of them.

CNET

The Ocean Cleanup has announced a staggering $7.

5 billion cost to eradicate floating plastic pollution from the Great Pacific Garbage Patch within 10 years.

The funding will come from philanthropic donations and government grants.

The organization's current operation, using System 03, involves a large U-shaped barrier being towed through the ocean to collect plastic debris.

Ocean Cleanup Vessels: Tackling Plastic Pollution

The twin ocean cleanup vessels operate side by side, using a u-shaped barrier to collect plastic debris from the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.

The system's retention zone fills up with waste, which is then pulled in and sorted by the crew for recycling.

The vessels are equipped with wildlife safety features and the energy needed for the cleanup is projected to expel 90 kilotons of CO2 annually, comparable to the emissions of a small town.

Innovative Plan to Clean the Great Pacific Garbage Patch

Boyan Slat proposes a faster and cheaper method to clean the Great Pacific Garbage Patch using computer modeling, GPS trackers, and drone technology.

His approach, called hotspot hunting, aims to clear the patch in five years for $4 billion, which is less than half of America's annual spending on Halloween decorations.

Slat is calling on world governments and philanthropists to support the cleanup effort, emphasizing its feasibility based on their collection numbers and calculations.

The organization is open to licensing or open-sourcing their technology for other nonprofits or organizations to use in cleaning up the ocean.

They emphasize that their main goal is to eliminate the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, regardless of who does it.

Following the press conference, they have one more trip scheduled for the year to continue their cleanup efforts and conduct more testing.

Focus on Hotspot Hunting for Ocean Cleanup

The upcoming year will see a pause in offshore cleanup operations to focus on hotspot hunting.

The plan includes developing GPS trackers and sorting out drone operations for a scaled-up performance by 2026.

The goal is to clean up the ocean plastic patch in five years for $4 billion.