After knowing our client is Plastic Bank, I decided to do more research on ocean cleaning and found this article about The Ocean Cleanup!
Ocean Cleanup is a non-profit organization founded by Boyan Slat in 2013 that strives to, as the name says, clean up the ocean! Especially plastic. The organization has developed different technology developments to help achieve its goal; for instance, their System 002 “Jenny,” an ocean cleanup system, works like a fish net that collects the plastic in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch (GPGP), located between Hawaii and California consists approximately 100 million kilograms of plastic.
With the help of donations from individuals and huge organizations like Airbnb, this year, they will launch their System 03, which is three times the size of their previous System 02, about 2400 meters wide. With this, they aim to remove 90% of floating ocean plastic by 2040! Compared to the old system, System 03 is way more efficient as it only needs “as few as ten systems” to clean the entire GPGP. However, there are always challenges. The variables influencing the results are the “downtime for extracting the plastic that’s collected and how well the system can be steered to target hot spots in the patch.” You may be wondering what they do with the plastic they picked it up. For The Ocean Cleanup, they hope to work with other companies to transform this ocean plastic into “durable plastic products.” To prove it is possible, they have come up with sunglasses.
Besides the ocean, The Ocean Cleanup also puts effort into cleaning up the rivers by having Interceptor systems that will “capture plastic before it reaches the ocean” to stop the tap. However, due to regulations and cultural differences, they could not manage and handle local waste themselves, which causes issues.
The Ocean Clean Up operates on a bigger scale than Plastic Bank due to its capacity and funding from business giants. Moreover, their ways of collecting the plastic are different since one is towing a huge net to capture the ocean plastic, and one is collecting plastic around the neighborhood and turning plastic into currency. Eliminate the discussion of which one is better; it is nice to know some organizations care about the planet and are willing to help. As individuals help, we can support them through donating, getting their merchandise, or helping out if possible!