On 15 July 2013, USG Engineering Professionals in the Netherlands signed a partnership agreement with The Ocean Cleanup Foundation. The Ocean Cleanup came up with a method to extract seven billion kilograms of plastic from the oceans in just five years. USG Engineering Professionals will provide project management staffing for the feasibility study the foundation is currently performing.

‘The goal of The Ocean Cleanup and the method with which they aim to remove plastic waste from the oceans, are both highly appealing to us,’ says USG Engineering Professionals’ General Manager Bart Monster. Sustainability, technology, innovation and creativity are signature features that both parties have in common.
The Ocean Cleanup

The founder of The Ocean Cleanup is Boyan Slat, an Aerospace Engineering student at the Delft University of Technology. He came up with the idea for a recycling station that, within five years, will be able to extract seven billion kilograms of plastic from the oceans. The results of the feasibility study, which is currently underway, will decide whether or not Slat’s plans will continue to be implemented and executed.
The idea

The idea is to place stationary floating recycling stations in the ocean. The ocean currents will transport the debris in the direction of the stations. Long, floating booms act as giant funnels that will catch the debris but no fish and other marine life. The angle of the booms and the surface current then force the plastic in the direction of the platforms, where the debris is stored in containers until collected for recycling on land.

The Ocean Cleanup Array will be highly energy efficient because most work is done by the ocean currents, and the platforms will receive additional energy from the sun and waves. Not all plastic in the oceans can be extracted this way, but it is estimated that approximately one third of global ocean surfaces plastic pollution can be cleaned up: this adds up to over seven billion kilograms.

Slat proposed the cleanup project and supporting system in 2012. In October, Slat outlined the project in a TED-talk.

The organization conducts scientific research into oceanic plastic pollution. It was founded in 2013 by Boyan Slat, a Dutch-born inventor-entrepreneur of Croatian origin who serves as its CEO.

The initial design consisted of long, floating barriers fixed to the seabed, attached to a central platform shaped like a manta ray for stability. The barriers would direct the floating plastic to the central platform, which would remove the plastic from the water. Slat did not specify the dimensions of this system in the talk.

The Ocean Cleanup is non-government engineering environmental organization based in Netherlands, that develops technology to extract plastic pollution from the oceans.