The Ocean Cleanup Project was originally started by Boyan Slat with the goal of eliminating plastics from the ocean. His original invention was aimed at eliminating plastic from the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, a plastic deposit the size of Texas that sits in the pacific ocean.

6 years after the projects start, the Ocean Cleanup Project has released a new invention that aims at eliminating plastic from ever entering the ocean. They are calling this machine The Interceptor.

How The Interceptor Works

After spending years studying how plastic ends up in the ocean, the Ocean Cleanup Project found that 99% of plastics that end up in the ocean come from 1000 rivers around the world.

These rivers are carrying plastic straight into the ocean where it is building up and being turned into microplastics that eventually end up inside of ocean life.

To eliminate a majority of this plastic from ever reaching the ocean, the OCP designed a machine that is meant to sit in rivers and remove the plastic as it floats by.

The plastic is then pulled into a conveyor belt and then emptied into containers that are eventually removed and emptied once they are full.

The interceptor is also completely autonomous and runs on solar power. This means it can operate around the clock all year long and only requires human labor to empty the containers full of plastic.

The Interceptor In Real Life

The Interceptor is no longer just a concept; it has been deployed and is operational right now in 2 rivers. The Interceptor has been deployed in Jakarta and Malaysia.

The Ocean Cleanup Project aims to eliminate 80% of all plastic reaching the world’s oceans in the next 5 years. An ambitious goal that would completely change how we think about waste management.