Alexander Gambon from ELONGATE sat down with Dan Leahy from The Ocean Cleanup to celebrate World Ocean Day. The team at Elongate announced a $150,000 donation to The Ocean Cleanup, a non-profit organization with a global mission to clean the plastic waste from oceans and waterways.
The Ocean Cleanup’s primary goal is to clean up the legacy plastic in the oceans and stop new plastic waste flowing in from rivers. They have successfully developed and implemented technologies to achieve these goals. One of these technologies, named The Interceptor, was showcased to the Elongate community in the live event. Spanning over 25 metres, The Interceptor is an autonomous solar-powered watercraft deployed in several locations worldwide. The innovative technology collects up to 50 tonnes of trash per day from the world’s most polluted rivers.
There are five major garbage patches in our world’s oceans. The largest is the Great Pacific Garbage Patch which is 1.6 million square kilometres; roughly double the size of Texas and triple the size of France. This patch alone contains an estimated 1.6 trillion pieces of plastic with a total weight of 80,000 tonnes. Worldwide there is an estimated 5 trillion pieces of plastic in the oceans, severely impacting over 700 species inhabiting the sea, some facing extinction.
Over 3 billion people worldwide are dependent on fish as a primary food source, and all of the waste impacts those relying on the ocean and rivers as a food source. The top 1000 pollution contributing rivers account for 80% of plastic waste that enters the world’s oceans. These rivers are a primary target for The Ocean Cleanup’s projects.
For more information visit theoceancleanup.com. You can read more about Elongate’s partnership with The Ocean Cleanup and their initial donation here.
Evan Johnson
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Alex G
