After 5 years of research, engineering and testing, The Ocean Cleanup has launched the world's first ocean cleanup system, System 001, from San Francisco Bay, marking the start of the cleanup. South Pole is proud to sponsor The Ocean Cleanup with an in-kind contribution to help compensate the CO2 emissions of the vessel transport associated with System 001. The emissions will be compensated with South Pole's carbon reduction project that supplies clean hydroelectric power to the remote mountain communities of Huóshuĭ, China.
The Ocean Cleanup's System 001 - the world's first cleanup system to rid the ocean of plastic waste - is now on its way to an intermediary test stop, 250-350 nautical miles offshore for a 2-week trial before continuing its journey toward the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, 1,200 nautical miles offshore, to start the cleanup.
The journey of the tow through the bay started on Saturday, 8th September, and was live streamed as the system crossed the Golden Gate Bridge and sailed off onto the Pacific Ocean. The transfer to the Pacific Trials testing area is expected to take between 3-5 days.
The ambitious project aims to clean up 50% of the 80, 000 tonnes of plastic located in the infamous Great Pacific Garbage Patch within five years.
“I am incredibly grateful for the tremendous amount of support we have received over the past few years from people around the world, that has allowed us to develop, test, and launch a system with the potential to begin to mitigate this ecological disaster. This makes me confident that, if we manage to make the technology work, the cleanup will happen," says Boyan Slat, CEO and founder, the Ocean Cleanup.
"Plastic waste, especially in oceans, is rising up the scale of global environmental concerns and we could not be prouder to sponsor the work of The Ocean Cleanup," says Natalia Gorina, Sales Director Carbon & Renewables, South Pole. "The grouped small hydro project we are using to compensate the GHG emissions associated with the vessel transport for System 001 shares the inspiring mission of the Ocean Cleanup: to deploy smart technologies to make the planet a cleaner place for all."
