So last July, we launched System 002, and it's an 800-meter-long system with a span of 500 to 600 meters.
But this is System 03, and it will be three times bigger. So we are going to
2.5 kilometers of length and a span of something like 1.8 kilometers. So it will be huge.
If you see it in comparison to System 002, System 03 will dwarf system 002. So if you are impressed with our
catch of System 002, then just wait until we get plastics with this system. It will be awesome.
We know we have something big to tackle with regards to the design,
but that's part of the challenge. It is definitely a lot of pressure because we do have a system
and it works. It's not anymore about proving the technology, but now it's
making sure we meet the objectives and making sure scaling up is actually the right way forward with this design
So it's another level again of perfection, I would say.
It's February 2022, and for the first time since a period of lockdown here in the Netherlands,
that we can actually come together again,
have some fun time, but also discuss the bigger project and do some exercises to understand
what's ahead of us this year. And what's ahead of us is actually System 03. So we're playing around
with Lego to simulate the operation, to get a bit more feeling about what's ahead of us when we
move to the third quarter this year, I expect. To date, we've caught 55 tons of plastic, which is
good and it's definitely contributing to cleaner oceans. But this next step is really going to
amplify that a lot. So we're going to clean more, but it's also going to be that essential step we
need to take to scaling up our operations and therefore increasing our impact further.
So when it comes to the development of our ocean cleanup technology, our key performance indicator
is really the cost per kilogram of plastic removed from the water, because essentially what we could
do is right now with our current system, you could already clean up the Great Pacific Garbage Patch,
but it wouldn't be a very smart thing to do because it would just be very uneconomical.
It is really expensive because you just need so many clean up systems. And the thing is that
the cost of the cleanup is completely driven by the amount of vessels that you need. So it's all
about limiting the amount of vessels that you need per area covered. So that's why it's so important
that we're going to go big now with System 03, where our aim is to produce the blueprint
for the scale up for the fleet of clean up systems. And our current modeling is showing that
deploying ten of these systems should be enough to clean up the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.
So if you see System 002 is written as system zero- zero-two. And that comes from a bit of a history
at The Ocean Cleanup when we initially started the designing of a system where we were also looking
at passive versus active, the modeling then shows that we may need a hundredfold of these systems
to clean up all the gyres in the world. Now, with the recent upgrades to an active propelled system
and also the engineering we've done looking forward, we've changed System 003 into System 03.
So we actually ditched one of the zeros. And the reason doing this is because our models
now show that we don't need a hundredfold systems anymore to clean up all the gyres in the world
and that really gives us something to look forward to in the future.
Now what we've learned over the period of harvesting, which has continued with System 002,
is during the wintertime, as we expected, that operations got a bit more challenging due to the
increase in the weather conditions. And that meant that we need to time our extractions
more carefully. So we did that to a certain extent quite well, but we also learned that
if you get the timing right or you're not quick enough in your turnaround, that you have some
weather downtime. So that was a first significant learning. What we also had was during the periods
out there, we also noticed that we had some encounters with marine life. And the good part was
that we saw that our environmental management plan worked well. We saved the majority of the animals
there. We also noticed that we caught a few animals and after careful necropsy and interviews
with experts on the outcome of those necropsies, we learned that animals were actually lethargic
or ill, and some of them even quite ill because they had quite some plastics in their stomach.
So I think the learning there is, you know, the plans we have are working well.
We do see sometimes when animals are in the system that the only mechanism to get them out
is to flush them out with the plastics as well. And the fortunate part is that the animal survives,
the unfortunate part is that we lose, of course, the plastic we've harvested. But we've also seen
thirdly that, you know, animals which are ill or sometimes near dead, that they do
act like plastics, so it's almost inevitable that a few of them enter into your system.
So that does mean we need to think this through further, how to optimize that part. And another
learning was that, you know, our geniuses, as I call them, from the Computational Modeling Team,
they've developed a model which allows us to steer towards the areas of high density plastic.
We've actually noticed that those models are quite accurate,
but we've also noticed that we need to get the decision making correct in which area
to deploy at the start, take into account the weather conditions that are then known,
because if you are operating in the areas of low density plastic, as you can imagine, the
outcome is less satisfactory, as if you would be deploying in the areas of high density plastic.
Now and then we realize that we have this one problem, this one big problem
standing in the way of our success. This one thing to tackle before you can make the next
step change in bringing in big amounts of plastic. So, instead of having one person spending a couple
of months and trying to solve this problem, we put a lot of people in one room together,
we basically lock the door, throw away the key, and the message is: you do not get out
until this problem is solved. So today is day three, so we have this big group of people
focused on tackling this one problem of overtopping for the system.
For System 002, we have observed offshore that plastic sometimes escapes by overtopping,
which is really the plastic making a jump over the floats. So we want to solve that.
Each one of our Hot Houses has actually had a good outcome,
you know, so this effort, while it does feel super annoying at the time,
has proven to lead to some successes and, you know, things going right so.
The outcome of the Hot House is now we do have five concepts shortlisted and we
now have the action to really look into a clear planning of how to develop those five concepts.
Some we are going to test directly on System 002, because of course we have a system in the water
so it's a great opportunity to actually test those concepts. And it's not like we are just
removing a system and putting another one. We are doing a transition. And it's really good to
do that because that's how we actually learn step by step. And one of the learnings we had
was that if you change everything, you don't know what you've improved and what
you haven't improved. So what we're doing now is we're changing one thing at a time
and that's also how we make sure that we have a working system all along.
So what we're going to do is continue with System 002 operations.
In parallel, we're engineering and manufacturing System 03 components continuously getting the
learnings from the field into the design. And the first step we're going to make is adding a
new retention zone. So that's the bottom part where the plastics actually enter the system.
We're going to design first the new retention zone and add that to the existing operations out there,
which we are then going to turn that into System 002/A. Also then what we will have ongoing is the
production of the wing sections, the outer ends of the system, and these will include upgrades
which are related to the integrity of the system, the performance in the field, but also we're
going to increase the depth from 3 to 4 meters and System 002/B will then be the new retention zone,
but we're going to add the new wing sections but remain in an operational configuration of 800 meters.
So once we get that all under our belt, we're going to progress to what we call System 002/C,
which means we go from 800 to 1600 meters length of these wing sections
and then run a new test campaign as well to make sure we are still meeting our performance
requirements there. Now the final step we'll take, and then the system becomes System 03,
is we're going to add a new section, or another section I should say of 800 meters, meaning the
total length gets around two and a half kilometers including the opening of the retention zone.
And with the increase of size we need to introduce a third vessel into our operations,
because with such a large system and with such an amount of plastics we're going to extract,
the amount of plastics which we get on deck and need to transport to shore will increase,
and that third vessel is basically going to allow us to do continuous operations in the field.
So every two weeks one vessel will be relieved by another, meaning that the
system is harvesting continuously throughout the year, whilst plastics are being shipped to shore
by the vessels departing the field, and once they come back to the field,
they of course bring new supplies, new crews and the next vessel can be relieved.
And then after a thorough test campaign there, we hope to be fully operational with a blueprint
and can progress to the design of the new system next to it.
Over here they are now making the retention zone for System 03. That's
the first thing that will be shipped to the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.
This is just not something you just pick out of your pocket. This is a lot of
handyman's craft, you have to be very focused. This is not as easy as it seems.
It's our mission to save the oceans and to save marine life.
So it might seem very strange that we end up at a fishing company that make nets to catch fish,
and do business with them. But in a way, we are doing the same thing and that's
we're going out to sea to catch something. And what better way than to ask a fisherman
that has been catching fish his whole life? Now we are not catching fish, we are catching plastics.
One of the big differences is that we go really, really slow. We go with 1.5 knots,
so fish can just easily swim into the system and swim away again. A trawl goes way faster. And also
there's no escape possibility from a trawl. And over here they have a lot of experience
producing nets, ropes, making knots, so this is the best place to go
to get a system that will last in the ocean for a long, long time. And that will enable us to catch
all the plastics in the ocean. This is where they have the expertise, this is where they have the
production facility, this is where they know how to handle the materials,
how to make all the stitching, how to make all the knotting. This is the place to be.
And then we have to take this line just a little bit forward.
Mørenot fishery, on the division I'm working at is for trawling. So what we are doing,
we are trawling to catch fish, and sustainably harvest fish. That's what we try to do.
And now we are going to trawl for plastic instead, but we are letting go of the fishes, so it's way
opposite than what we do in fishery. We see for a long long time that a lot of what we find
at our coastline in Norway, but also we see from The Ocean Cleanup that we
catch a lot of fishnet ropes and buoys and stuff, which is clearly from the fishing industry. And so
we acknowledge that we are a part of the problem, but we also now want to be a part of the solution.
So I think, yes, we are part of the problem, but we need to harvest fish for the population of the
world. But we also want to to do as much as we can at least. So I think by us being involved
here, this is at least one step.
Of course, the whole reason why The Ocean Cleanup exists, why we're doing this cleanup, is to maximize the amount of good
that we do. And there's two sides of that, there is maximizing the performance of the cleanup,
but also minimizing any possible negative side effect that the operation may have,
which relates to the emissions of the vessels as well as possible encounters with marine life.
On the emissions side, at this point in time, we are compensating for all the carbon emissions that
our vessels emit, and this is important, but at the same time, we also think it's still important
to keep pushing to reduce the amount of fuel that the vessels require to operate. And next to that,
when it comes to bycatch, what we see is that System 002 is actually performing exceptionally well.
About 99.8% of what we catch is plastic. So that's a really good ratio. However, still,
for that last 0.2%, we keep pushing to try and minimize that with System 03.
System 002 was good. System 002 worked. And even today, we are getting plastics out of the ocean.
System 03... So much bigger... So much better. The quantities of plastics we are going to get
from the ocean will be huge. The piles of plastic that System 002 brought in, those were impressive.
I can't wait to see what this system is going to bring back.