Catching Up with The Ocean Cleanup

2024 Inspirations | Looking towards the future 2024 was another year of impact and protecting the future of our planet. In this year-end wrap-up episode, we look back at the year’s accomplishments and how future generations can be inspired to make a difference. From three large Interceptor deployments to another year of cleaning legacy plastic from The Great Pacific Garbage Patch. With the help of our incredible crew and dedicated supporters like you, we are making extraordinary progress and delivering tangible and measurable impact. To stay up to date with our latest developments follow us on social media: ⁠Facebook⁠, ⁠Instagram⁠, ⁠LinkedIn⁠, ⁠YouTube⁠, ⁠TikTok⁠, ⁠X⁠, or our website.

This month, our host, Dan van der Kooy, records the 50th episode of Catching Up in Kingston, Jamaica, sitting on a fishing boat with Jerome "Cliff" Clifford and Colin "Dean" Palmer. Cliff and Dean are two local fishermen from Seaview Gardens, a neighborhood along Sandy Gully in Kingston, Jamaica. Their neighborhood is directly affected by the trash pouring out of the gully each day. Cliff and Dean share stories of what it was like prior to the pollution and discuss the importance of cleaning it up. They share their pride in being part of a major project like the new Interceptor solution and their desire to leave a better future for the local community, fishermen, and future generations. We also hear about the community's involvement in The Ocean Cleanup's deployments in the area. Their goal is to preserve the environment, ensuring that future generations have somewhere to go fishing, something to eat, and a strong community. Right now, they're making history to make sure there's a future. Kingston, Jamaica, is our first Interceptor city. Learn more about it here: ⁠https://theoceancleanup.com/updates/kingston-jamaica-the-first-interceptor-city/⁠ Thank you to all our listeners! We can't believe we have recorded 50 episodes, and we wouldn't have been able to do so without your support. To stay up to date with our latest developments, subscribe to our newsletter at theoceancleanup.com or follow us on social media: Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, YouTube, TikTok, X.

This month, we sit down with Tarkessh Mahendran, our Waste Manager in Malaysia, to discuss the vibe in our Kuala Lumpur regional office and the importance of having a team on the ground, physically located in Southeast Asia. Tarkessh speaks about cultural differences between working in Malaysia and Rotterdam, such as the subtler communication styles in Asia compared to more direct approaches in Europe. He also gives an update on the new sorting center being built on the Klang River to improve plastic recycling, and what this will mean for the future of our Interceptor projects on the Klang.

This month's podcast is from the remote and windy shore of the Rio Motagua. Robert Leijgraaf, aka Bobby, Project Engineer at The Ocean Cleanup, sits with our host, Dan van der Kooy, in the fishing village of El Quetzalito, Guatemala. We're about to deploy the second Interceptor Solution in Guatemala. Bobby talks about the need for another Interceptor Barricade at the end of the Rio Motagua and what we learned from the first project in the country. Interceptor Barricade XL will be about 300km upstream from the first Interceptor Barricade. If it all goes well, the combined impact of the two deployments will stop river pollution right before it enters the Caribbean Sea. Learn more about our new deployment here.

Not everyone who dedicates their life to dirty oceans and rivers comes from somewhere close to a body of water. Matthias Egger, Head of Environmental and Social Affairs, hails from the Swiss mountains and dedicates his life to the science of making oceans and rivers cleaner for marine life and humans in the future. He discusses how we help local communities by addressing global problems through a holistic but specific lens. While solving pollution on a small scale and changing people's lives, we work on global solutions. We use the data from river deployments in various countries to develop a blueprint for the future by writing Environmental and Social Impact Assessments. This way, we mitigate risks, monitor our actions to create a larger impact on the world, publish research, and strive to make upstream changes. For example, Matthias shares his experience at the INC negotiations, where over 160 countries work on the first international legally binding instrument on plastic pollution. He also talks about his personal experiences throughout his six years working for The Ocean Cleanup and what this means to him as a father. Learn more about how we contribute to environmental and social impact here: https://theoceancleanup.com/environmental-and-social-impact/

It’s ‘Bring Your Kids To Work Day’ at The Ocean Cleanup HQ! Your host, Dan van der Kooy, has traveled the world braving all kinds of hazardous environments to bring you the stories of our mission. But is he ready for his toughest test yet? We’re not just ridding the oceans of plastic for today: we’re doing it for the next generation, too - and they have some thoughts! Here, children of crew members tell Dan how proud they are of their parent’s work at The Ocean Cleanup, why it’s so essential to protect fish and other animals in the oceans, and how they want to help other kids all over the world: as Milly puts it, ‘we should all help and make this a better place.’ All of us at The Ocean Cleanup say a huge thank you to Emma, Theo, Milly, Suvie, Harvey, Quentin, Noah, Jacob, Aurelia, Rex, Rafael, Flip and Amy for their fantastic appearances - some in their second language - in this special episode! To see how we’re cleaning up the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, see here: https://theoceancleanup.com/oceans/ Most ocean plastic comes from rivers: see how we’re deploying Interceptors in the world’s most polluting rivers here: https://theoceancleanup.com/rivers/ We recently announced our first official partner product with Coldplay - check out the Notebook Edition LP of their new album ‘Moon Music’ containing 70% recycled river plastic intercepted in Guatemala - see how we did it here: https://theoceancleanup.com/updates/the-ocean-cleanup-and-coldplay-announce-lp-made-using-plastic-intercepted-in-guatemala/

Not all lawyers stay in the office or the courtroom. Letícia Abreu Passos de Souza grew up seeing the damage caused by pollution in her native Brazil - and now she’s using the law to do something about it. As Director of Legal and Public Affairs at The Ocean Cleanup, Letícia guides our crew through different laws and rules in countries around the world - as well as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. She tells Catching Up how understanding local laws helps us work with local authorities in the best way and makes our Interceptor deployments more efficient - helping us catch plastic faster and with greater impact. Letícia tells us the importance of having ‘boots on the ground’ to truly understand how the law can help tackle plastic pollution in a local community, and shares her hopes for a new world effort to solve the problem through a Global Plastics Treaty. Learn more on how we contribute to law and public policy here: https://theoceancleanup.com/global-public-affairs/ See our blogpost on cleanup and the Global Plastics Treaty here: https://theoceancleanup.com/updates/global-plastics-treaty-why-legacy-plastic-cleanup-is-essential/

We're in Bangkok, Thailand, where Interceptor 019 has been deployed as our first step in cleaning the Chao Phraya - one of the world's busiest rivers. Charlotte de Jong, Business Development Manager at The Ocean Cleanup, has spent years preparing for this moment, collaborating with dozens of partners, and facing the challenges of placing an Interceptor in a prime central location in one of the world's great cities. Catching Up hears how Charlotte has worked together with Thai administrators, volunteers, and businesses to ensure Interceptor 019 has maximum impact and visibility for Bangkok's residents and how our technology and expertise require local expertise and ownership to complete our mission of ridding the oceans of plastic. Read more about Interceptor 019 in Bangkok here: https://theoceancleanup.com/updates/bangkok-begins-the-ocean-cleanups-interceptor-019-comes-to-thailand/ Find out how we're intercepting plastic in the world's most polluting rivers here: https://theoceancleanup.com/rivers/

How do we clean the oceans? With a little help from our friends, of course - and Ewan Topping, Senior Partnership Manager at The Ocean Cleanup, is the man who helps us find them. Hundreds of organizations collaborate with The Ocean Cleanup, and Ewan tells us the key to attracting the right support: identify a shared problem and find partners motivated to solve it. But it's not all about big organizations - many of you, our listeners, support The Ocean Cleanup each month. Ewan tells us how this is now easier than ever with our new fundraising platform, ready for anyone around the world to help us rid the oceans of plastic. Does your organization want to help rid the oceans of plastic? Read on: https://theoceancleanup.com/partners-and-funders/ Want to make an impact? Start fundraising for The Ocean Cleanup here: https://fund.theoceancleanup.com/

The Ocean Cleanup is heading back to the Great Pacific Garbage Patch with System 03, so Catching Up speaks to Senior Offshore Representative Grete Ernst ahead of her latest trip to the Pacific Ocean. Grete has front-row seats for the largest cleanup in history and shares her excitement at heading out once more. But Grete has many tales to tell from her time offshore, and she reveals what life is really like with the same crew for weeks on end, with land nearly a week’s journey away - as she says, almost like a different planet. In such a key year for our oceans, Grete tells us how she'll be helping us optimize System 03 following its winter upgrades to make us even more impactful and efficient in cleaning plastic. From the Global Plastics Treaty to the importance of creative thinking in engineering, Grete gives us the full picture of cleaning the ocean - from up close.

It’s not just about plastic - it’s about people, too. Suleman Audu, Environmental Manager at The Ocean Cleanup, takes us from his schoolboy Environmental Club days back in Nigeria to his vital role in our mission: making sure our river deployments bring the right benefits for the people living alongside them. Every river is unique - and so is every riverside community, particularly when the river is vital for local needs. Suleman explains how he and his colleagues work to understand plastic pollution from the local’s point of view - and use our deployments to help them to solve it. Suleman also speaks to the power of empathy, how his experiences help him connect with our stakeholders and listen to what matters to them, and his pride and passion in joining our mission to rid the oceans of plastic.

It’s been a stellar year for The Ocean Cleanup. New deployments, global negotiations, and an incredible global catch total of over 8 million kg (almost 18 million lb!) of trash removed from oceans and rivers worldwide. So as a special holiday gift, Catching Up is serving a selection of 2023 highlights from our chats with crew members (and special guests) this year - curated and presented by your always-festive host, Dan van der Kooy. From the entire crew of The Ocean Cleanup, we thank you for listening and coming with us on this mission to rid the oceans of plastic. We wish each of you a very happy new year, and we can’t wait to share 2024 with you - so make sure you’re subscribed. You can donate to help clean our oceans - join us at theoceancleanup.com/donate

Data is nothing without the brains to understand it correctly - and we have just the brain for the job. From plastic-infested riverbanks in the Caribbean to diplomatic meetings in Kenya, Renata Correia has spent four years crossing the world with The Ocean Cleanup, analyzing and enhancing the data we gather on plastic pollution. Renata takes us through her journey: from her horror at her first sight of the scale of plastic pollution in Guatemala, to her current role as the 'data whisperer' in our Rivers program. Every river is different, and solid data helps us see where plastic pollution comes from and lets us measure our impact in tackling it. As Head of Performance and Analysis for our Rivers team, Renata tells Catching Up how her constant curiosity keeps her searching for new answers, and how she guides an expert team of scientists around the world to connect the dots and spot the patterns across a planet's worth of plastic data. Find our more about The Ocean Cleanup's work researching plastic in rivers here: https://theoceancleanup.com/updates/a-tale-of-3-rivers-intercontinental-river-research-collaboration/ and the 1000 rivers around the world that our models predict as the top polluters here: https://theoceancleanup.com/sources/

It all started with an idea on a napkin...and now #TeamSeas is celebrating 20 million lbs (9 million kilograms!) of trash removed around the world. Catching Up speaks to Matt Fitzgerald, co-founder of the #TeamSeas campaign, about why he, Mark Rober, and MrBeast decided to combine forces to clean oceans, rivers, and beaches worldwide - and how the true legacy of the campaign is the passion it inspires every day. Matt tells us how #TeamSeas has captured the imagination of millions of young people worldwide, and how The Ocean Cleanup's Jamaica deployments are spreading knowledge and awareness far beyond our Interceptors. He reveals how getting arrested with his grandmother during a climate protest inspired him to continue his work as an organizer in the climate movement - and he shares some truly shocking theories on the tooth fairy...

Flemming Sloth Andersen is a name that will forever be linked to our ocean cleaning operations. Flemming has spent over one year of his life at sea with The Ocean Cleanup, and here - directly from the Great Pacific Garbage Patch - he tells us the ups and the downs, from early prototype challenges to System 03’s unprecedented plastic extractions. Flemming takes us through his remarkable career on land and at sea and gives insight into what makes our work in the GPGP so unique. He also tells us of his deep conviction that his generation has a responsibility to the next, and how his six grandchildren inspire him to keep cleaning year after year.

Rae Town, Kingston, Jamaica: an iconic location and the perfect place to catch up on The Ocean Cleanup's Jamaica project. With five Interceptors deployed in gullies around the city (and more on the way) one guest wasn't enough: Dan van der Kooy speaks to Alecia Beaufort, Operations Manager for Clean Harbours Jamaica, and Dominik Haertl, Business Development Manager at The Ocean Cleanup, about how this enormous project got started and how we've responded to Kingston's unique circumstances. Alecia and Dominik speak about how local people - from fishing communities to visiting schoolchildren - are benefiting and learning from our Interceptor deployments, and how our collaboration with local government and vital partners such as the GraceKennedyFoundation and Clean Harbours Jamaica isn't just about intercepting plastic, but also about a wider project to improve quality of life for Kingston's community.

"Science has always been my passion.” Sarah-Jeanne Royer, our resident oceanographer and research scientist on plastic degradation, has a storied background. In this episode, she takes us from her childhood in Quebec to catching a wave and peaceful island life in Hawaii… with a stop along the way to study for her degree while in a bunker in war-torn Afghanistan. Sarah tells a slightly worse-for-wear Dan van der Kooy how plastic marine debris on Hawaiian beaches is similar to trash found in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, along with the importance of staying focused (and very, very patient) when conducting research. She also ponders whether or not it’s worth spending time and energy to handle emotion-led criticism (“it makes me sad”) and tells us why we’re all “shedding plastic” when we work out.

Alongside the newly-deployed Interceptor 006 in Guatemala, CEO and Founder of The Ocean Cleanup, Boyan Slat, reflects on the four-year campaign to intercept tsunamis of trash in this one-of-a-kind river. From perseverance to partnerships, Boyan explains the vital ingredients for a successful launch and celebrates the 1m kilograms of trash already intercepted. Boyan tells us more on a range of topics, from the importance of the negotiations for a Global Plastic Treaty to our plans for improving efficiency in our GPGP cleanup. He also speaks of his personal growth during the last year, how he handles the responsibilities that come with success, and gives his hot take on one of 1995's biggest movies.

After three years in the Dominican Republic, Operations Manager Erik Holmbom is preparing to return to HQ in Rotterdam. Catching Up speaks to Erik to find out what he's learned during his posting in the Caribbean, and how Interceptor 004 has overcome initial problems to become a valuable and appreciated presence for the community in Santo Domingo. Erik describes how working at The Ocean Cleanup has rewired his brain to solve problems and how partners – ranging from the Dominican Navy to UNDP – are crucial for our operations on the ground. Erik also answers your questions and reveals a slightly unusual lifelong dream: to sail a 6.5m bathtub across the Atlantic – all alone.

The technology at The Ocean Cleanup goes way beyond only what is visible in the oceans and rivers. Our IT Manager, Steven Bink, discusses his role in the history of the organization and how the excitement from another well known technology company is opening the door to an exciting future of ridding the world's oceans of plastic.