The Ocean Cleanup Expands River Interceptor Arsenal

Speaker 1: If you're a fan of this YouTube channel and environmental technology, then chances are, [00:00:30] you've seen the ocean clean ups, massive river interceptors which divert floating trash in the mouth of rivers using a long barrier and a solar powered conveyor belt to dispose of the garbage. Well, the ocean cleanup has been experimenting with a more simple barrier for smaller rivers and shallower streams called the interceptor barrier. I said it was simple. They also introduced a small, more agile, garbage collecting boat called the interceptor tender, which is used to collect the waste that builds up in the interceptor [00:01:00] barriers. Speaker 2: In 2019, we launched our interceptor program where the goal really is to stop more plastic from reaching the world's oceans rivers are, are the arteries that carry the plastic from Landy. What we've developed is what we call the interceptor barrier, which is simply of, you know, a floating barrier. You know, the concept is nothing new. It's just that we made it in a way that it can be produced quickly, that it's efficient. The plastic that we're using in these cleanup systems are actually made from recycle plastic [00:01:30] is really cool to have cleanup systems made from plastic to clean more plastic. Speaker 1: They're using the trash that've collected to collect more trash. Isn't that a great idea. And it's easily scalable to fit across more rivers streams, estuaries tributaries Brooks, creeks runs. Did I say streams? You name it. The interceptor barrier will cover it. The cost of deploying these barriers is much cheaper and they're able to cover more places where pollution flowing into rivers and streams. After [00:02:00] heavy rains is a known issue. The ocean cleanup partnered with the Grace Kennedy foundation and clean harbors Jamaica to install the barriers at the mouth of the Barnes goalie in the Kingston Harbor of Kingston, Jamaica, which will be the testing ground for these new tools. Speaker 2: We deployed the first three of those in December. And then we developed something called the interceptor tender, which is a mobile unit, which can actually travel from barrier to barrier and MTL. These collection Speaker 1: Zones, the interceptor [00:02:30] tender is a smaller one to two person crude boat designed to tend to the interceptor barriers. The interceptor tender is just another tool in the tool shed for the ocean cleanup, who is slowly expanding its arsenal of interceptors. With these new edit, Speaker 2: We're going to create a portfolio of interceptor solutions so that whenever we visit the location, we see polluted river, we can always pick the, the most suitable solution for that particular river. Speaker 1: The interceptor tender is currently being manufactured and [00:03:00] tested and has a close resemblance to the sea cleaners, Mo eight plastic catching boat, which sports, a small crew on board as well. The advantage of these smaller garbage collecting boats is their ability to get into shallow and more confined bodies of water that the larger intercepts might not be a good fit for In 2021 superstar YouTubers, Mr. Beast, and mark Rober announced their team seas initiative to raise money, to clean up the oceans and rivers modeled after their [00:03:30] previous success with team trees back in 2020, which resulted in 20 million trees being planted, the YouTubers announced a new goal to raise $30 million to remove 30 million pounds of trash from the ocean, partnering with the ocean cleanup to do it Speaker 2: About a year ago, Mr. Beast tweeted that he wanted to clean the oceans. So we reached out and we connected. And from that this team sees campaign arose Speaker 1: With a massive reach of their YouTube channels. The campaign was a quick success [00:04:00] and to date team sees has helped remove over 31 million pounds of plastic pollution from the oceans and rivers. Speaker 2: Half of it is going to be ocean cleanup, where we're going to invest into new interceptors to intercept 15 million pounds from some of the most polluting rivers in the world. And the other half is going to ocean Conservancy where going to use that to collect trash from beaches around the world. I think it's a really cool initiative to be part of and even cooler that they actually made the target and they raised [00:04:30] 30 million on the last day before, uh, the campaign ended Speaker 1: And just like any other social media influencer brands want to get on board with the ocean cleanup, the band cold play, and now us to partnership with the ocean cleanup in 2021. And we'll be sponsoring an interceptor. And then one of the biggest companies in the world and arguably one of the biggest producers of plastic bottles and bottle caps in the world Coca-Cola is now teaming up with the ocean cleanup to build 15 new river interceptors to be installed in 15 different rivers around [00:05:00] the world. They Speaker 2: Obviously have a problem that a lot of their plastic is ending up in the wrong place, ending up in the ocean. They are looking at various methods to try and minimize, uh, their impact. But really the, the main reason for us to collaborate is to make deployment successful. We need boots on the ground, and of course Coca-Cola employs hundred to thousands of people around the world. So being able to leverage those resources in those countries to help accelerate the deployment of interceptors, uh, [00:05:30] we felt was, um, you know, a good thing for the ocean. Speaker 1: So don't be surprised if you spot an interceptor with a Coca-Cola logo on the side of it, the ocean cleanup offers sponsorship opportunities for anyone who is willing and able to clean up plastic pollution. And the ocean cleanup has big plants for their interceptor technology in 2022. And that includes the USA. The ocean cleanup will be installing an interceptor this summer on us soil, cuz let's face it. Americans make a mess too. Speaker 2: One of the places where we will be deploying this year is [00:06:00] going to be Los Angeles. Uh, there's this, uh, infamous bio Creek, you know, whenever it rains nature course isn't too often. A lot of trash is coming down and including the waters of Southern California is ending up on the beaches. I think it's very easily preventable. Have an intercept is in that river and we're very excited to soon see an interceptor. Um, one of the most famous coastlines in the world Speaker 1: Boyan also says the goal for 2022 is to have 20 to 25 new interceptors [00:06:30] installed in different rivers by years end. And you can help by donating to the cleanup@theoceancleanup.com. So let's shift gears and go to the ocean. In October of 2021, boyat announced that they had a viable cleanup system for the ocean with system two, and then following it up with another big announcement that they were launching to clean up the great Pacific garbage patch the very next day. So how are they doing out there? Much trash has been collected and what are their plans [00:07:00] for the next generation ocean cleanup system? Three Speaker 2: Last October, we completed proof of technology. We succeeded in having a system work, uh, to clean plastic from the great Pacific garbage patch. Uh, we've been keeping the system operational cuz we're now that we have a system that works, we just want to keep cleaning key, harvesting more plastic, the campaign so far we've collected roughly 42,000 kilos of plastic. So a hundred thousand pounds, which equals roughly one, 2000th [00:07:30] of the great Pacific garbage back. Speaker 1: Here's a quick refresher of system two, what it took for them to get there. Speaker 1: System two, AKA Jenny is a very large fishing net like device that is dragged through the ocean by two large vessels at a very slow speed. The net extends three meters below the surface and is open in the center, allowing fish to swim underneath as floating debris gets caught in the net. It gets pushed into a retention zone at the back [00:08:00] of the structure. Once the retention zone gets full two ships maneuver to tie off the system and hoist the retention zone onto one of the ships for sorting and disposal back on land, the success of system two has not been a cake walk. It took years of research and development to get to this point where teams are regularly pulling plastic out of the, the ocean like fishermen, but to use a bad metaphor. That's just the tip of the iceberg. The crew of system two operate much like a high tech fishing vessel, relying on satellite and weather data [00:08:30] as well as a drones eye view in the sky to guide them to the largest patches of plastic, which are randomly floating way out in the middle of the ocean, that is very difficult to do the ocean cleanup. Speaker 1: Crews can be out at sea for six weeks at a time pulling in massive loads of trash to sort and recycle every day. They're seeing patterns in the trash they're collecting as well as some eclectic fines system three will be the ocean cleanup's fourth generation plastic catching device, and Boyn plants to scale up its size considerably. The [00:09:00] retention zone of system three will be able to hold up to 2000 cubic meters of plastic debris. Compare that to the 10 cubic meters of system two. Speaker 2: Right now we're in the design phase of system three. The system is going to be two and half thousand meters in length, 1.8 kilometers. So more than a mile in, in span. So it's going to be a, a massive system. So that's going to be quite an effort to, to even get it out there. Yeah, I mean, that's the skill that [00:09:30] we're going to need if we want to economically clean up the grapes of the garbage patch or of roughly probably 10 systems should be enough to meet our target, to clean up 90% of the greatness of the garbage Speaker 1: Bench. If you like this video, then hit the like button and subscribe to CS, YouTube channel for more environmental videos, check out the description for links to the ocean cleanups website. If you want to get involved in donate to the cause and let's keep it clean and thanks for watch.