With the increase of plastic production, there is an overwhelming amount of trash. Plastic takes centuries to decompose and most of the time, there are still microplastics left. A lot of the time, this trash ends up in our rivers, oceans and even our food.
According to a study conducted in collaboration with Deloitte, yearly economic costs due to marine plastic pollution are estimated to be between $6-19bn USD. The costs stem from the plastic’s impact on tourism, fisheries and aquaculture, and (governmental) cleanups.
Plastic pollution in the world's oceans is one of the biggest environmental issues of our time, impacting nearly 700 marine species.
Plastic pollution does not only impact sea life, it also carries toxic pollutants into the food chain – a food chain including us humans.
Research shows the majority of plastic in the gyres by mass is currently in the larger debris. By removing the plastic while most of it is still large, we prevent it from breaking down into dangerous microplastics. Our aim is to have removed 90% of floating ocean plastic by 2040. We plan to do this by cleaning up the legacy plastic -the plastic already floating in the ocean- and by “closing the tap” through river plastic interception.