Following our largest ocean plastic catch to date, the crew got to work sorting it on deck. In the meantime, System 002 aka Jenny has successfully faced stronger weather over the last few days with wind and waves picking up and is about halfway through the full duration test.
Trash accumulates in five ocean garbage patches, the largest one being the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, located between Hawaii and California. If left to circulate, the plastic will impact our ecosystems, health, and economies. Solving it requires a combination of closing the source, and cleaning up what has already accumulated in the ocean.
The ocean is big. Cleaning up the Great Pacific Garbage Patch using conventional methods – vessels and nets – would take thousands of years and tens of billions of dollars to complete. After fleets of The Ocean Cleanup systems are deployed into every ocean gyre, combined with source reduction, The Ocean Cleanup projects to be able to remove 90% of ocean plastic by 2040.