Welcome, now I’m going to tell you about the impossible mission
This is an idea and it’s not set in stone okay
I think this is our only hope to really be able to close the tap for 80% before we start
cleaning up in 2020
So, the problem of plastic pollution has two sides to it
On one side there is the legacy plastic, the plastic that’s already floating in the ocean
and doesn’t go away by itself.
And then you have the other side which is new plastic still entering the oceans every day
The Ocean Cleanup has been working on developing new technologies to get the sort of, the fastest
reduction in the amount of plastic entering the oceans possible
We are always so eager to take our supporters with us on the journey and to communicate
every step on the journey to clean oceans, yet we did feel that the probability of success
would simply be higher if we keep this as a sort of secret special project
under the radar for a while
as it would avoid you know, putting any external pressures on the team
just to be really able to focus our attention on this river project
I’ve seen it evolve in these four years as an employee
We went from a really tiny start-up to a company doing well and I would say we’re thriving
We’re still finding the same dedication in people that I felt when I arrived here
as a young little intern
Sjoerd, do we have enough rope to moor this end?
No, I don’t think so
Okay
In May 2015 we started the river project
We started it under the radar to be able to move around freely and to be able to test
what we want, to design what we want
When I think back about the early times of the river project it was really cool because
we had a small team that was learning so much every day about plastic in rivers
So today we’re in Jakarta and behind me is actually the first river cleanup prototype
that we’ve built
It’s the first full-scale prototype and it’s intended to clean up the river
At the Ocean Cleanup, we really believe in engineering by doing, so we want to go
to the field as quickly as possible
Because we learned more about the riverine debris problem, in the meantime we have decided
to make the system bigger
So that’s what you see behind me
When you look at the technology we have now, it’s a completely different stage of
the project, but right now what you see is that the whole team is making it happen
And that also gives a really cool atmosphere within the team
It’s not been easy to keep it secret but we have managed to keep it secret thus far
Yeah, yeah its funny because when you know it and you see interviews with Boyan you really
see him do a secret smile sort of when people ask him, why don’t you do something about rivers
And on Facebook, another question: Can you use one of your systems on rivers to capture
the plastic before they enter the oceans
A very interesting question, a very interesting idea, but not for today
I don’t think anyone is expecting this to come out
If you were to extrapolate our progress, we’re like this, and then suddenly, whoop
That’s the feeling this machine is giving me
Why this project?
We might be able to show the world a little bit more about the actual problem that there is
We have a solution that can clean some rivers but we also need better waste management
We also need more awareness of the problem and
I really hope that this might be helping to change the minds of
a lot of people in the world about the problem