Catching Up with The Ocean Cleanup

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.

Ridding the oceans of plastic costs money - lots of it. As a non-profit project, every cent The Ocean Cleanup spends comes from a donor somewhere in the world. So how do our supporters know we’re spending their hard-earned cash correctly? Catching Up speaks to Joy Gao, Finance Director at The Ocean Cleanup, as she cuts through the numbers to answer the big questions: how do we spend our money? How can supporters trust that their donations - from kids’ piggy bank savings to billionaire philanthropy - are spent the right way? And just how did she end up choosing Rotterdam and The Ocean Cleanup over a possible career in K-pop? Find all of our podcasts and learn more about our mission to rid the oceans of plastic at theoceancleanup.com/podcasts.

Plastic pollution afflicts the whole world, and solving it requires countries, governments and other organizations to work together. To rid the oceans of plastic, we need action at every level: upstream change alongside our downstream cleanup, for a full life-cycle solution. But how do you get nearly 200 countries to agree on a plan? João Ribeiro-Bidaoui, General Counsel and Director of Global Public Affairs, speaks to Catching Up to explain how The Ocean Cleanup isn’t just cleaning plastic, but is also building partnerships and working to influence anti-plastic pollution policies at the highest global levels - not only within the countries where we operate, but also in the critical negotiations for a potential UN Plastics Treaty.

Ridding the oceans of plastic doesn’t start on the sea - it starts in the lab. Head of Research Laurent Lebreton calls in from New Zealand to tell us how research and data-driven science form the foundation for everything The Ocean Cleanup does - and how better data make us better cleaners. Through academic conferences to long-term ocean research voyages, Laurent speaks of his pride at his team’s pioneering work gathering data on plastic pollution, and guides us through the story of how a startup evolved into a leader in ocean plastic research.

Trying to tie up an entire year at The Ocean Cleanup is an impossible thing, especially in a year with so many monumental projects happening at the same time. Listen as the Executive Producer of Documentary Content, and host of Catching Up, Dan van der Kooy, looks back at some of the conversations he had throughout 2022 with team members from all around the planet.

With a few Florida manatees for company, The Ocean Cleanup’s Head of Communications Joost Dubois gives us the story behind telling the story. Joost tells us what drives him to keep growing the story of the largest cleanup in history, explains how The Ocean Cleanup’s name stands as a mark of our integrity and transparency, and rolls back the years to share the highlights of his journey so far as our self-styled ‘Chief Promises Officer’.

From alongside Interceptor 007, Operations Manager Alex Mills talks about some of the highs and lows that he has been a part of during his career at The Ocean Cleanup, along with what goes on behind the scenes during the assembly, operations, and maintaining an Interceptor in various locations around the world. He also "skates" into some of his favorite hobbies and what the last month has been like for him throughout the exhausting experience of setting up Interceptor 007 in Los Angeles County.

Exciting times for our Oceans program: record catch figures, improved efficiency, and in transition to System 03 - the perfect time to catch up with our new Director Oceans a.i., Joël Jansen, so he can tell us how it’s all going. Joël discusses our scale-up and the measures taken in our constant effort to reduce our environmental footprint. He also speaks about cynical social media reactions, how his journey to The Ocean Cleanup began many years ago with a Panini sticker album, and how he is inspired by the environment and his family to continue striving to rid the oceans of plastic.

Every non-profit stands or falls on its finances. Luckily, The Ocean Cleanup’s new Chief Financial Officer, Stacey Santoso, brings a wealth of experience, first from the corporate world and later from her time as Head of Global Finance at Greenpeace. Stacey describes the passions driving her financial career and the importance of local empathy when operating globally. Stacey also shares fascinating personal insights into how she perceives cleanup operations in the country of her birth, Indonesia.

From Bangkok’s Chao Phraya river, River Surveyor Engineer David Higgins explains how he identifies which rivers can most benefit from our intervention. David shares the emotions he has experienced in his ‘dream job’ with The Ocean Cleanup, reveals how a new river operation takes shape, and shares his personal journey from surfing on the shores of southwest Ireland to intercepting plastic in the world’s most polluting rivers.

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.’