Plastic extraction from System 002. The Ocean Cleanup's ocean system cleans the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. Many crates and buoys originating from fishing activities can be seen in the catch. Photo Credit: The Ocean Cleanup
Environment USAOcean Cleanup Milestone: 100,000 Kilos of Plastic Removed!
The Great Pacific Garbage Patch (GPGP), located in the North Pacific Ocean, is 100,000 kilograms (kg) lighter in plastic – thanks to the first of many successful operations to clean up the sea.
An incredible milestone has been reached even though the method, called System 002 and nicknamed “Jenny”, is still experimental.
“Now our technology is validated, we are ready to move on to our new and expanded System 03, which is expected to capture plastic at a rate potentially 10 times higher than System 002 through a combination of increased size, improved efficiency, and increased uptime,” explains Boyan Slat, CEO and founder of The Ocean Cleanup.
A total of 101,353 kg of plastic has been removed since August 2021 when System 002 was deployed over 45 extractions in more than 3,000km2, the equivalent of Luxembourg’s total surface area. Previous systems collected 7,613 kg of plastic, bringing the total to 108,526 kilograms of extracted marine debris. Should the 100,000 kg haul be repeated 1,000 times, the Great Pacific Garbage Patch would cease to exist.
