The Ocean Cleanup has unveiled The Interceptor, which aims to prevent the flow of plastic pollution into the world’s oceans.
The Interceptor will attempt to tackle 1,000 of the world’s most polluting rivers, which are responsible for around 80 per cent of ocean plastic pollution, before the end of 2025.
It is the first scalable solution to intercept river plastic pollution and can be deployed around the world, while being capable of extracting 50,000kg of plastic waste per day, and potentially up to 100,000kg per day under optimised conditions.
Currently four Interceptors have been built, with two already in operation in Indonesia and Malaysia, and a third and fourth to be deployed in Vietnam and the Dominican Republic.
Boyan Slat, Founder and CEO of The Ocean Cleanup, said: “To truly rid the oceans of plastic, we need to both clean up the legacy and close the tap, preventing more plastic from reaching the oceans in the first place.”
“Combining our ocean cleanup technology with the Interceptor, to solutions now exist to address both sides of the equation.”