Mission One in Great Pacific Garbage Patch Completed – Ocean Cleanup

The Ocean Cleanup, the Dutch non-profit organization developing advanced technologies to rid the world’s oceans of plastic, has brought the first batch of ocean plastic to shore following their first mission in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.

Boyan Slat,CEO and Ocean Cleanup Founder announcing the completion of Mission One in Vancouver

Boyan Slat, Founder and CEO of The Ocean Cleanup, announced that this plastic trash will be transformed into sustainable products, that will be sold to help fund the continuation of the cleanup operations. To confirm the origin of these future plastic products, The Ocean Cleanup has worked with DNV GL, an international classification society, to verify plastic that is removed from the ocean.

The purpose of The Ocean Cleanup’s first mission in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch was to confirm the concept of passive plastic collection by means of the natural forces of the ocean. After several ups and downs, in October 2019 The Ocean Cleanup announced that the system is capturing and collecting plastic debris, from massive ghost nets down to microplastics one millimeter in size.

Since the launch of the first cleanup system, System 001, in September 2018, most items on the long list of deliverables for the technology could be checked one-by-one. Early reports showed, however, that System 001 was not retaining plastic as it should, and despite attempts to remedy this and successful design confirmations, the system suffered a fatigue fracture, resulting in a need to return the system to shore in January 2019.

The engineering team performed a root cause analysis, redesigned a modified system, and, in record time, The Ocean Cleanup deployed the upgraded system, System 001/B, in June 2019. After several months of trialing modifications, the concept’s ability to capture plastic was confirmed.

With the conclusion of Mission One, The Ocean Cleanup has begun preparations for their next system, System 002. The aim of this new design is to create a full-scale, fully operational system. The engineering team has initiated the development phase by addressing the essential remaining design challenges – long-term durability and sustained plastic retention – and will test updated features, once completed. System 002 will be a key stepping stone to full-scale cleanup of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.

Featured Title photograph

CEO, Boyan Slat, giving a recap of Mission One in Vancouver, Canada. He explained the next steps for the plastic caught – to turn it into durable products that will help fund the continuation of the cleanup

Big Bags filled with plastic from the Great Pacific Garbage Patch by System 001/B

Ghost Net lifted onboard in the Great Pacifice Garbage Patch

Plastic Catch Extracted from System 001/B

Source Ocean Cleanup