Catching Up with The Ocean Cleanup

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

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

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 reveal

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, partic

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 p

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

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

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 rema

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 O

"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 tell