Catching Up With The Ocean Cleanup

Boyan Slat, Founder and CEO of The Ocean Cleanup, describes his contrasting emotions following the first trial of the Interceptor Trashfence in Guatemala. Boyan shares how he takes learnings from disappointments, updates us on The Ocean Cleanup’s progress in the Pacific Ocean over the last year, and reveals how operations to rid our oceans of plastic are ready to be scaled up across the globe.

Direct from the Guatemalan jungle, we catch up with our Head of Creative and Documentary Productions, Florent Beauverd, and ask him why documenting the largest cleanup in history is so important to the future of our planet. Florent also speaks about his background in extreme sports and how he has evolved in building trust through technology and creative multimedia production.

Director Asia, Steven Paalman, talks about the experience of traveling with Boyan Slat and Team Asia to assist in progressing various river projects and meet key partners in the region. He also shares his views on the importance of maintaining these relationships in a mix of cultures for the future of intercepting trash from some of the most important polluting rivers in Asia.

Alice Collins is the Project Manager for our upcoming Interceptor 007 deployment in Los Angeles County. After a recent globe-straddling trip to visit Interceptor projects in Malaysia and the US, Alice finds a moment to sit down and talk us through what makes this very visible deployment so different.

Ocean Operations Manager Glen Kissack talks about how he juggles the relationship between Maersk Supply Service and The Ocean Cleanup – both in the office as well as offshore. He also looks back at his offshore career and reflects on his time with ‘Jenny.’

River Field Scientist Thomas Mani and Recycling Manager John Verhoeven answer the tough questions about trash – from how it ends up in a body of water, how we are using a new app to track it, and how we can use waste as a resource in the future. They also share some of their personal experiences and how important it is for them to see the problem first-hand.

Managing Director, Jacob Fonteijne and Director of the Ocean Team, Henk van Dalen look back at another crazy and historic year at The Ocean Cleanup and what it was like to experience it from their perspectives. They also talk about the culture at The Ocean Cleanup and how that relates to keeping the momentum going even through the pandemic.

Senior Partnership Manager Fleur Elverding and Social Media Manager Viktorija Gaizutyte talk about how the #TeamSeas campaign and working with Mr. Beast and Mark Rober has opened the door for an entirely new generation of supporters. We also look back at how “the new normal” has affected social media and partnerships at The Ocean Cleanup and what new and exciting things are coming in 2022.

Talking all things plastic processing, Catch Management Director, Stella van den Berg, walks us through how we will process the plastic we collected during the testing of System 002 in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. Processing ocean plastic isn't an easy task, but the knowledge we gain in re-purposing this plastic will be crucial not only for The Ocean Cleanup, but for the planet.

Eight weeks into the System 002 mission and three years since first deploying our technology in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch we are catching plastic. The Ocean Cleanup's Reijnder de Feijter, has been here through it all. In this episode, he takes over Catching Up and discusses initial environmental findings with the onboard Protected Species Observer Sebastian Orue. They reflect on what it's like to see so much waste removed from the ocean and how this impacts their own lives.

In The Ocean Cleanup’s first podcast recorded from the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, two senior project engineers on board the Maersk Trader, Fedde Poppenk and Fraser Keil, give us a glimpse into the initial days, challenges, and successes of the System 002, aka Jenny, mission. When offshore, you fail fast and learn fast, but the insights from this trip set the stage for the future of the campaign and the cleanup itself.

This week the team will embark on the next mission into Great Pacific Garbage Patch with System 002. Its nickname is inspired by (another) character from a Tom Hanks movie and the design features several substantial updates. Prior to “lift off” we sat down with Head of Technology, Arjen Tjallema and Senior Project Engineer, Reijnder de Feijter to discuss the preparations behind this new system and our expectations for it as we return to this infamous gyre in the Pacific Ocean.

Founder and CEO of The Ocean Cleanup, Boyan Slat, went with the project team to Guatemala to explore solutions for the pollution problem in one of the most polluting rivers in the world. He shares his first impressions of what he experienced during his time there and we talk about upcoming projects for The Ocean Cleanup, the recently announced partnership with The Coca Cola Company, and what’s important for future planning.

Ali and Lucy Tabrizi, Director and Assistant Director of the Netflix documentary Seaspiracy, sat down with our Lead Ocean Scientist, Matthias Egger, to talk about the importance of science, technology, and research in telling impactful stories using the latest technology. We also chat about the making of the film and discuss one of the statistics from The Ocean Cleanup's research on ghost nets in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.

Head of Environmental and Social Affairs, Michelle Tishler, and Business Development Manager in Latin America, Frank Behrens, discuss their thoughts on a specific pollution problem in Guatemala and how they are researching and preparing solutions that can help. We also talk about the environmental preparations for the forthcoming ocean System 002 launch and dive into the hobbies that inspire these two to help keep the oceans clean.

A small team from The Ocean Cleanup traveled to Jamaica to continue research and business development for the gully pollution problem in Kingston Harbour. In this special on-location episode, we sat with Renata Correia, Mathilde Wiedemann, Bastiaan Dubois, and Jasper van Eijk to discuss the research, engineering, and business plan to help this famous Caribbean country find the right solution for this immense problem.

Senior Project Engineer for the Ocean team, Manon Ait Amarouche, tells us how past experiences, hobbies, and even critics have helped inspire her journey at The Ocean Cleanup. She also hints at some updates coming later this year with the next ocean cleanup system.

Gently floating along the Rio Ozama - Dominican style - with Erik Holmbom, our project manager in the Dominican Republic. In this episode, we chatted about the effects of COVID-19 and the importance of the UNDP and the Dominican Armada for the future of the Interceptor program in Santo Domingo.

In the latest conversation, we caught up with Ellen, Legal Counsel, and Lourens, Head of Data & Monitoring at The Ocean Cleanup. They’ll share why we need lawyers and applied researchers at The Ocean Cleanup, and what the two have in common. Ellen also explains the new legal challenges of working with plastic pollution for something that has never been done before.

As we gear up to launch our first product made with plastic from the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, we caught up with Recycling and Material Development Manager, Eva Snijder, and Project Engineer, Chris Reichard, to talk about our Full Circle process of recycling the plastic catch and turning it into a (re)usable material. They also look back on when we said goodbye to a legendary pipe in The Ocean Cleanup’s history.