5/21/2018 World Geography: Understanding a Changing World - The Ocean Cleanup

From ABC-CLIO's World Geography website

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THE OCEAN CLEANUP

The Ocean Cleanup is a non-pro t organization that focuses on designing and implementing advanced
technologies for cleaning up plastic pollution in the ocean. It is headquartered in Delft, the Netherlands. The
organization was founded in 2013 by 18-year-old former engineering student Boyan Slat. Slat was so passionate
about his pollution- ghting ideas that he withdrew from Delft University of Technology to pursue them.

Background, Founding, and Organization

Slat rst described his ideas for cleaning up ocean plastic pollution in October 2012, at the TEDx Talks in Delft. In
his presentation, titled "How the Oceans Can Clean Themselves," Slat explained how plastic debris and other
pollutants become concentrated in ve ocean gyres, which are like giant swirling whirlpools in the ocean. The
largest of these, nicknamed the "Great Paci c Garbage Patch," spans across the North Paci c Ocean. Within this
region, there are two distinct areas of swirling oating debris, one near Japan and the other near California.

Some of the plastic items remain trapped in these gyres for decades, gradually breaking down and leaching toxic
chemical compounds into the waters. The chemicals cause illness and death among sh and other ocean species.
The chemicals are also linked to illnesses in people who consume the contaminated animals. These illnesses
include immune system disorders, cancer, and birth defects.

In his TEDx speech, Slat proposed building long plastic-collecting devices along the sea surface at the gyre sites.
Plastic waste would be passively, automatically, and continually extracted from the swirling water by these
devices. After an online video of this speech attracted widespread attention, Slat was encouraged in February
2013 to drop out of college and found The Ocean Cleanup. He raised millions of dollars for the new organization
through an online crowdfunding campaign, which attracted thousands of donors from more than 150 countries.

As of 2018, The Ocean Cleanup employed more than 70 paid sta members, including scientists, engineers, and
computer modelers. Slat is chief executive o cer. The young executive has surrounded himself with older,
experienced individuals to help him realize his plans. Lonneke Holierhoek, with more than 20 years of experience
in maritime and o shore construction, is chief operating o cer. Jos Huijbregts, with more than 25 years of
experience in corporate management, is chief nancial o cer. The organization's scienti c advisory board
consists of several experts in oceanography, ecology, o shore structures, marine technology, and marine law.

Although the organization is headquartered in Delft, its facility for assembling the cleanup systems is located in
Alameda, California. The Alameda construction yard is on the site of a former naval air station.

Project Deployment and Technology

The deployment of Slat's concept is scheduled to begin in mid-2018. Plans call for a eet of debris-collecting
boom-like devices, each about 1 kilometer (0.6 mile) long, to be deployed at gyre locations selected on the basis
of computer modeling. The rst location is to be within the Great Paci c Garbage Patch, about 1,380 miles
o shore from California. Eventually, some 50 devices are expected to be deployed at di erent gyre sites. Slat
estimates that his system could clean up half the trash in the Great Paci c Garbage Patch within ve years.

Each device consists of a U-shaped oating pipe made from high-density polyethylene, capable of withstanding
the rough ocean conditions for several years. The pipe drifts with the currents, along with the plastic debris, but a
heavy anchor makes it oat slower than the debris. This aids in the capture of the plastic. Beneath the pipe hangs
a solid polyurethane screen that traps plastic debris oating near the surface, where most of the waste is located.
The screen can catch items ranging in size from 1 centimeter to several meters. Each device is designed to move

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5/21/2018 World Geography: Understanding a Changing World - The Ocean Cleanup

all the captured debris to a central receptacle. Approximately once a month, a boat will pick up the debris using a
pumping system. The plastic will then be recycled for sale to companies that will make new products out of it.
Slat's goal is that revenue generated from these sales will make the cleanup operation self-sustainable.

Recognition and Honors

Although Slat's plastic-collecting concept has been criticized as ine cient, unrealistic, and/or unworkable by a
number of marine scientists, Slat and The Ocean Cleanup received many honors, awards, and other recognitions
—before any system was even deployed. Honors included the United Nations' Champion of the Earth, The Design
Museum's Designs of the Year, Entrepreneur magazine's Entrepreneur's Brilliant 100, and the Norwegian
Shipowners Association's Heyerdahl Award.

 
A. J. Smuskiewicz
Further Reading

Boyan Slat web site. http://www.boyanslat.com/; Singh, Timon. "Interview: Boyan Slat, teenage inventor of the
Ocean Cleanup array." Inhabitat. October 10, 2014. https://inhabitat.com/interview-boyan-slat-teenage-inventor-
of-the-ocean-cleanup-array/; Slat, Boyan. "How the oceans can clean themselves." TedX Talks. October 2010.
http://www.environmentandsociety.org/mml/slat-boyan-how-oceans-can-clean-themselves; The Ocean Cleanup
web site. https://www.theoceancleanup.com/.

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This content may be used for non-commercial, classroom purposes only.

MLA Citation
Smuskiewicz, A. J. "The Ocean Cleanup." World Geography: Understanding a Changing World, ABC-CLIO, 2018,
worldgeography.abc-clio.com/Search/Display/2142464. Accessed 21 May 2018.
 
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