The Ocean Cleanup
The Ocean Cleanup is a nonprofit engineering environmental organization based in the Netherlands, that develops technology to extract plastic pollution from the oceans and intercept it in rivers before it can reach the ocean. After testing and prototyping in the North Sea they deployed their first full-scale prototype in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. It ran into difficulty after two months and was towed to Hawaii for inspection and repair. In June 2019, their second prototype system was deployed.
Formation | 2013 |
---|---|
Founded at | Delft, Netherlands |
Type | Stichting |
Purpose | Cleaning the oceans |
Headquarters | Rotterdam, Netherlands |
Coordinates | 51°55′15″N 4°28′06″E |
Boyan Slat | |
Staff | 80+[1] |
Website | www |
The organization conducts scientific research into oceanic plastic pollution. It was founded in 2013 by Boyan Slat, a Dutch-born inventor-entrepreneur of Croatian and Dutch origin[2][3] who serves as its CEO. It has conducted two expeditions to the North Pacific Gyre, the Mega Expedition and the Aerial Expedition, and continues to publish scientific papers.[4][5][6][7] Their ocean system consists of a floating barrier at the surface of the water in the oceanic gyres, that collects marine debris as the system is pushed by wind, waves and current, and slowed down by a sea anchor.[8] The project aims to launch a total of 60 such systems, and they predict this capability could clean up 50% of the debris in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch in five years from full scale deployment.[9][10][11]
In late October 2019, The Ocean Cleanup announced a new initiative, the Interceptor, to attack the trash problem closer to the source, with plans to prevent 80% of riverine trash coming from 1000 rivers worldwide.[12][13][14]
History
Slat proposed the cleanup project and supporting system in 2012. In October, Slat outlined the project in a TED-talk. The initial design consisted of long, floating barriers fixed to the seabed, attached to a central platform shaped like a manta ray for stability. The barriers would direct the floating plastic to the central platform, which would remove the plastic from the water. Slat did not specify the dimensions of this system in the talk.[15]
2014 – revisions
In 2014, the design was revised, replacing the central platform with a tower detached from the floating barriers. This platform would collect the plastic using a conveyor belt. The floating barrier was proposed to be 100 km long. In 2015, this design won the London Design Museum Design of the Year,[16][17] and the INDEX: Award.[18][19]
2015 – scale model tests
In 2015, scale model tests were conducted in controlled environments.[20] Tests took place in wave pools at Deltares and MARIN. The purpose was to test the dynamics and load of the barrier, when exposed to currents and waves, and to gather data for continued computational modeling.[21]
2016 – open sea tests
A 100-metre segment went through a test in the North Sea, off the coast of the Netherlands in the summer of 2016.[20][22] The purpose was to test the endurance of the materials chosen and the connections between elements. The test indicated that conventional oil containment booms could not endure the harsh environments the system would face. They changed the floater material to a hard-walled HDPE pipe, which is flexible enough to follow the waves, and rigid enough to maintain its open U-shape. More prototypes were deployed to test component endurance.[23]
On May 11, 2017, The Ocean Cleanup announced the next step is to test their new drifting system in the North Pacific in 2017.[22]
2017
In May 2017, significant changes to the design were made:
- The dimensions were drastically reduced, from 100 km to 1–2-kilometre (0.62–1.24 mi). The Ocean Cleanup suggested using a fleet of approximately 60 such systems.[24][25]
- The seabed anchors were replaced with sea anchors, allowing it to drift with the currents, but moving more slowly. This allowed the plastic to "catch up" with the cleanup system. The lines to the anchor would keep the system in a U-shape. This design allows the system to drift to locations with the highest concentration of debris.[26]
- An automatic system for collecting the plastic was dropped. Instead, the system would concentrate the plastic before removal by support vessels.[27]
2018
The Ocean Cleanup performed more scale model tests in 2018.[28] The sea anchors were removed because the wind moved the system faster than the plastic. The opening of the U would face the direction of travel, which would be achieved by having the underwater screen deeper in the middle of the system, creating more drag.[29][30]
On September 9, 2018, System 001 (nicknamed Wilson in reference to the floating volleyball in the 2000 film Cast Away)[31][10] deployed from San Francisco. The ship Maersk Launcher towed the system to a position 240 nautical miles off the coast, where it was put through a series of sea trials.[32]
When the tests were complete, it was towed to the Great Pacific Garbage Patch for real-world duty. It arrived on October 16, 2018, and was deployed in operational configuration.[33] System 001 encountered difficulties retaining the plastic collected.[34] The system collected debris, but soon lost it because the barrier traveled too slowly.[35]
In November, the project attempted to widen the mouth of the U by 60-70m but failed.[35] In late December, mechanical stress caused an 18-meter section to detach. Shortly thereafter, the rig began its journey to Hawaii for inspection and repair. During the two months of operation, the system had captured some 2,000 kg of plastic.[36]
2019
In mid-January 2019, the Wilson system completed its 800-mile journey and arrived in Hilo Bay, Hawaii.[37][38] Ocean Cleanup planned to return the repaired system to duty by summer.[39][40] In mid-June, after four months of work, the revamped system (001/B) was redeployed.[41][42] This too failed. In August, the team announced that after trying multiple alternatives, a water-borne parachute attached to slow the boom and expanding the cork line used to hold the screen in place would be tested.[43][44] In October it became clear that the new system successfully holds plastic, and even microplastics.[44] The model is also more efficient and smaller, making offshore adjustments possible.[45]
Design
The system uses passive floating structures localized in the ocean gyres, where marine debris tends to accumulate. These structures act as a containment boom. The boom drifts with the wind, waves and ocean currents to capture marine debris. A solid screen underneath the floating pipe catches subsurface debris. The system requires no external energy.
The first deployment, System 001, consisted of a 600 metres (2,000 ft) long barrier with a 3 metres (9.8 ft) wide skirt that hangs beneath it.[46] It is made from HDPE, and consists of 50x12 m sections joined together.[47] It was unmanned and incorporates solar-powered monitoring and navigation systems, including GPS, cameras, lanterns and AIS.[48] The barrier and the screen mounting were produced in Austria by an Austrian supplier.[49]
In 2019 a string of inflatable buoys was installed across the system's opening, to increase its speed. This edition used simpler connections between the barrier and skirt, eliminated stabilizing structures and reduced the barrier size by two-thirds.[45]
Research
Oceanic expeditions
In August 2015, The Ocean Cleanup conducted its so-called Mega Expedition, in which a fleet of approximately 30 vessels, including lead ship R/V Ocean Starr, crossed the Great Pacific garbage patch and mapped an area of 3.5 million square kilometers. The expedition collected data on the size, concentration and total mass of the plastic in the patch. According to the organization, this expedition collected more data on oceanic plastic pollution than the last 40 years combined.[50][51]
In September and October 2016, The Ocean Cleanup launched its Aerial Expedition, in which a C-130 Hercules aircraft conducted a series of aerial surveys of the Great Pacific garbage patch. The goal was specifically to quantify the amount of large debris, including ghosts nets in the patch.[52] Slat stated that the crew saw a lot more debris than expected.[53]
The project released an app called The Ocean Cleanup Survey App, which enables others to survey the ocean for plastic, and report their observations to The Ocean Cleanup.[54]
Scientific findings
In February 2015, the research team published a study in Biogeosciences about the vertical distribution of plastic, based on samples collected in the North Atlantic Gyre. They found that the plastic concentration decreases exponentially with depth, with the highest concentration at the surface, and approaching zero just a few meters deeper.[30][55] A follow-up paper was published in Scientific Reports in October 2016.[56]
In June 2017, researchers published a paper in Nature Communications, with a model of the river plastic input into the ocean. Their model estimates that between 1.15 and 2.41 million metric tonnes of plastic enter the world's oceans every year, with 86% of the input stemming from rivers in Asia.[57][58]
In December 2017, they published a paper in Environmental Science & Technology about pollutants in oceanic plastic, based upon data from the Mega Expedition. They found that 84% of their plastic samples had at least one persistent organic pollutant in them exceeding safe levels. Furthermore, they found 180 times more plastic than naturally occurring biomass on the surface in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.[59]
On March 22, 2018, The Ocean Cleanup published a paper in Scientific Reports, summarizing the combined findings from the Mega- and Aerial Expedition. They estimate that the Patch contains 1.8 trillion pieces of floating plastic, with a total mass of 79,000 metric tonnes. Microplastics (< 0.5 cm) make up 94% of the pieces, accounting for 8% of the mass. The study suggests that the amount of plastic in the patch increased exponentially since 1970.[60]
In October 2019, when research revealed most ocean plastic pollution comes from Chinese cargo ships,[61] an Ocean Cleanup spokesperson said: "Everyone talks about saving the oceans by stopping using plastic bags, straws and single use packaging. That's important, but when we head out on the ocean, that's not necessarily what we find."[62]
Funding
The Ocean Cleanup is mainly funded by donations and sponsors. As of November 2019 it has made a little over $35 million from sponsors including Salesforce.com chief executive Marc Benioff, philanthropist Peter Thiel, Julius Baer Foundation and Royal DSM.[63][64] The Ocean Cleanup raised over 2 million USD with the help of a crowdfunding campaign in 2014.[65]
Criticism
Criticisms and doubts about method, feasibility, efficiency and return on investment have been raised in the scientific community about the project. These include:
- Devices closer to shore are easier to maintain, and would likely recover more plastic per dollar spent overall.[66]
- Cleanup on land is more efficient and less costly than cleanup in the ocean.[67][68]
- The device may not be robust enough to survive in the open sea.[69]
- The device could imperil sea life.[69]
- The approach by itself cannot solve the whole problem.[70][71] Plastic in the oceans is spread far beyond the gyres; experts estimate that less than 5% of all the plastic pollution which enters the oceans makes its way into any of the garbage patches.[70]:1 Much of the plastic that does is not floating at the surface.[69]
- Marcus Eriksen et al. (2014) reported that 92% of marine plastic (by count) is smaller than microplastics and would escape the system.[72]
Interceptor river clean-up
In late October 2019, The Ocean Cleanup introduced its new river Interceptor initiative to help clean oceans by reducing trash pollution input closer to the source – rivers.[73] Solar-powered Interceptor vessels use floating arms to direct floating waste into the collection conveyor, which dumps trash into dumpsters on a detachable barge below. When full, the collection stops until the barge is removed, emptied and returned to the Interceptor. The Interceptor project is similar to a smaller-scale local project called Mr. Trash Wheel developed in Maryland's Baltimore harbor.[74] The first two Interceptor systems have been operating in Indonesia and Malaysia, with the next planned for Vietnam and the Dominican Republic.[74] Contracts have been signed for Thailand, Honduras, Los Angeles County, expected to be deployed in 2020.[14]
Recognition
The project and its founder have been recognized in many fora.
- 2014 Champion of the Earth – The United Nations Environment Programme.[75]
- One of the 20 Most Promising Young Entrepreneurs Worldwide – Intel EYE50.[76]
- 2015 Maritime Young Entrepreneur Award.
- In 2015, the Array was named as a London Design Museum Design of the Year.[16][17]
- 2015 INDEX: Award.[19]
- 2015 Fast Company Innovation By Design Award in the category Social Good.[77]
- 2015 100 Global Thinkers 0 Foreign Policy.[78]
- 2016 Katerva award.[79]
- 2017 Norwegian Shipowners' Association's Thor Heyerdahl award.[80]
See also
References
- About The Ocean Cleanup, Theoceancleanup.com. Retrieved 2018-10-25.
- "HRVAT KOJI ČISTI OCEANE Moj tata živi u Istri, a ja sam s ušteđevinom od 200 € ostvario san". jutarnji.hr. Retrieved 2017-04-13.
- "Nizozemac hrvatskog podrijetla izumio sustav koji elimira plastični otpad iz mora". www.monitor.hr. Retrieved 2017-04-13.
- Cleanup, The Ocean. "The Ocean Cleanup Launches Mega Expedition, Largest Research Expedition In History". www.prnewswire.com. Retrieved 2020-08-10.
- jason (2018-07-27). "The Ocean Cleanup Aerial Expedition [All You Need To Know]". International Air Response. Retrieved 2020-08-10.
- Chen, Qiqing (November 2017). "Pollutants in Plastics within the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre". Environmental Science & Technology. 52 (2): 446–456. doi:10.1021/acs.est.7b04682. PMID 29185716.
- Lebreton, L. (March 2018). "Evidence that the Great Pacific Garbage Patch is rapidly accumulating plastic". Scientific Reports. 8 (1): 4666. Bibcode:2018NatSR...8.4666L. doi:10.1038/s41598-018-22939-w. PMC 5864935. PMID 29568057.
- "Into the Twilight Zone". The Ocean Cleanup. 2019-08-16. Retrieved 2020-08-10.
- "The Ocean Cleanup Isn't Capturing Plastic, But Organizers Are Testing ..." Forbes. Forbes. Retrieved 10 December 2018.
- Summers, Hannah (2018-09-08). "Scientists get ready to begin Great Pacific Garbage Patch cleanup". the Guardian. Retrieved 2018-11-02.
- CNET (2018-09-10), The Ocean Cleanup launches to the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, retrieved 2018-11-02
- "Dutch foundation launches project to tackle river plastic pollution". news.yahoo.com. 2019-10-26. Retrieved 2019-10-26.
- Rivers | The Interceptor, Explained | The Ocean Cleanup, retrieved 2019-10-26
- Boyan Slat talks up his latest invention, The Interceptor, retrieved 2019-10-26
- TEDx Talks (2012-10-24), How the oceans can clean themselves: Boyan Slat at TEDxDelft, retrieved 2018-09-09
- Winners announced for three Nor-Shipping 2015 Awards Archived 2015-11-18 at the Wayback Machine Mynewsdesk.com. Retrieved 2015-10-29.
- Designs of the Year 2015, Designmuseum.org. Retrieved 2015-10-29.
- "Ocean cleaner wins top Danish design award". GlobalPost.com. 2015-08-27. Retrieved 2015-08-30.
- "THE OCEAN CLEANUP ARRAY – INDEX: AWARD 2015 WINNER (COMMUNITY CATEGORY) – INDEX: Design to Improve Life®". INDEX: Design to Improve Life®. 2015-08-27. Retrieved 2018-09-09.
- "Can this project clean up millions of tons of ocean plastic?". PBS NewsHour. 2016-08-14. Retrieved 2018-09-10.
- "Ocean Cleanup enters new stage with model experiments in test basins of Marin and Deltares, the Netherlands". Dutch Water Sector. November 23, 2015. Retrieved November 7, 2019.
- Kotecki, Peter (Sep 13, 2019). "The massive plastic-cleaning device a 25-year-old invented is finally catching some trash in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. Take a look at its journey". Business Insider. Retrieved November 7, 2019.
- "Ocean Cleanup's fully re-engineered plastic recovery prototype nears completion". Dutch Water Sector. February 21, 2018. Retrieved November 7, 2019.
- Stokstad, Erik (September 11, 2018). "Controversial plastic trash collector begins maiden ocean voyage". Science. Retrieved November 7, 2019.
- Meyer, Rachael (October 28, 2019). "The Ocean Cleanup successfully collects ocean plastic, aims to scale design". Mongabay. Retrieved November 7, 2019.
- Loria, Kevin (May 11, 2017). "A 22-year-old is moving ahead with a controversial plan to trap plastic floating in the great Pacific garbage patch". Business Insider. Retrieved November 7, 2019.
- "The Ocean Cleanup: the next phase in capturing plastic". Material District. May 12, 2017. Retrieved November 7, 2019.
- "Video: Scale Model Tests of The Ocean Cleanup System". World Maritime News. May 14, 2018. Retrieved November 7, 2019.
- Rainey, James (June 13, 2018). "A young Dutch inventor wants to clean plastic from the ocean. Can he do it?". NBC News. Retrieved November 7, 2019.
- Loria, Kevin (Sep 7, 2018). "A 24-year-old is going ahead with a controversial plan to trap plastic floating in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. Some experts are worried". Business Insider. Retrieved November 7, 2019.
- Ahiza Garcia. "This floating pipe is trying to clean up all the plastic in the ocean". CNN. Retrieved 2018-12-10.
- "Maersk Signs on to Help Clean up Ocean Plastic". Marine Technology News. 2018-08-16. Retrieved 2019-06-24.
- Meixler, Eli (October 16, 2018). "A Giant Net Has Been Deployed to Clean Up Plastics in the Pacific Ocean". Time. Retrieved November 7, 2019.
- Elizabeth Weise (10 December 2018). "Ocean Cleanup fail? System in Great Pacific Garbage Patch to corral plastic needs redesign". USA Today.
- Lavars, Nick (December 6, 2018). "Ocean Cleanup Project struggles to get its system up to speed". newatlas.com. Retrieved 2018-12-17.
- Lavars, Nick (January 2, 2019). "Ocean Cleanup Project drags its fractured plastic-catching barrier in for repairs". newatlas.com. Retrieved 2019-01-03.
- Burnett, John (2019-01-13). "Malfunctioning ocean cleanup boom to arrive in Hilo today". Hawaii Tribune-Herald. Retrieved 2019-03-08.
- Cowgirl, Cosmic (2019-01-28). "Ocean Cleanup device in Hilo for repairs". KNKR 96.1FM. Retrieved 2019-03-08.
- "Great Pacific Garbage Patch: Ocean Cleanup device could be fixed and in action by summer". USA TODAY. Retrieved 2019-03-08.
- "The Ocean Cleanup Fails on Its First Effort". www.oaklandmagazine.com. Retrieved 2019-03-08.
- "Great Pacific Garbage Patch: giant plastic trap put to sea again". The Guardian. Associated Press. 2019-06-23. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2019-06-23.
- Pieters, Janene (June 24, 2019). "Ocean Cleanup's plastic collecting boom relaunched". nltimes.nl. Retrieved November 9, 2019.
- Lavars, Nick (2019-08-19). "Ocean Cleanup attaches parachutes to trash-collecting barriers to maintain steady speeds". New Atlas. Retrieved 2019-08-25.
- Boffey, Daniel (3 October 2019). "Ocean cleanup device successfully collects plastic for first time". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2019-10-03 – via www.theguardian.com.
- Lavars, Nick (June 27, 2019). "Take two: Upgraded Ocean Cleanup barrier returns to take on the Great Pacific Garbage Patch". newatlas.com. Retrieved 2019-06-29.
- Jeff Kart (5 December 2018). "The Ocean Cleanup Isn't Capturing Plastic, But Organizers Are Testing A Solution". Forbes.
- "Plastics to the rescue in cleanup of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch". PlasticsToday. 2018-09-10. Retrieved 2018-12-10.
- "The Ocean Cleanup Technology". The Ocean Cleanup. Retrieved 2018-12-10.
- "Manufacturing the floater for "The Ocean Cleanup"". AGRU Kunststofftechnik GmbH. Retrieved 2018-12-20.
- Mega Expedition, Theoceancleanup.com. Vittu mitä paskaa.
- "Garbage 'patch' is much worse than believed, entrepreneur says". SFGate. 2015-08-23. Retrieved 2018-10-24.
- "Great Pacific Garbage Patch more awash with waste than expected". New Atlas. October 4, 2016. Retrieved November 9, 2019.
- Milman, Oliver (2016-10-04). "'Great Pacific garbage patch' far bigger than imagined, aerial survey shows". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2017-05-08.
- "The Ocean Cleanup Survey App – Apps on Google Play". play.google.com. Retrieved 2018-10-24.
- Reisser, J.; Slat, B.; Noble, K.; du Plessis, K.; Epp, M.; Proietti, M.; de Sonneville, J.; Becker, T.; Pattiaratchi, C. (2015-02-26). "The vertical distribution of buoyant plastics at sea: an observational study in the North Atlantic Gyre". Biogeosciences. 12 (4): 1249–1256. Bibcode:2015BGeo...12.1249R. doi:10.5194/bg-12-1249-2015. ISSN 1726-4189.
- Kooi, Merel; Reisser, Julia; Slat, Boyan; Ferrari, Francesco F.; Schmid, Moritz S.; Cunsolo, Serena; Brambini, Roberto; Noble, Kimberly; Sirks, Lys-Anne (2016-10-10). "The effect of particle properties on the depth profile of buoyant plastics in the ocean". Scientific Reports. 6 (1): 33882. Bibcode:2016NatSR...633882K. doi:10.1038/srep33882. ISSN 2045-2322. PMC 5056413. PMID 27721460.
- Lebreton, Laurent C. M.; van der Zwet, Joost; Damsteeg, Jan-Willem; Slat, Boyan; Andrady, Anthony; Reisser, Julia (2017-06-07). "River plastic emissions to the world's oceans". Nature Communications. 8: 15611. Bibcode:2017NatCo...815611L. doi:10.1038/ncomms15611. ISSN 2041-1723. PMC 5467230. PMID 28589961.
- Berman, Robby (June 17, 2017). "Where Is the Plastic in the Ocean Coming From? Try Asia". Big Think. Retrieved November 10, 2019.
- Chen, Qiqing; Reisser, Julia; Cunsolo, Serena; Kwadijk, Christiaan; Kotterman, Michiel; Proietti, Maira; Slat, Boyan; Ferrari, Francesco F.; Schwarz, Anna (2017-12-21). "Pollutants in Plastics within the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre". Environmental Science & Technology. 52 (2): 446–456. doi:10.1021/acs.est.7b04682. ISSN 0013-936X. PMID 29185716.
- Lebreton, L.; Slat, B.; Ferrari, F.; Sainte-Rose, B.; Aitken, J.; Marthouse, R.; Hajbane, S.; Cunsolo, S.; Schwarz, A. (2018-03-22). "Evidence that the Great Pacific Garbage Patch is rapidly accumulating plastic". Scientific Reports. 8 (1): 4666. Bibcode:2018NatSR...8.4666L. doi:10.1038/s41598-018-22939-w. ISSN 2045-2322. PMC 5864935. PMID 29568057.
- Ryan, Peter G.; Dilley, Ben J.; Ronconi, Robert A.; Connan, Maëlle (September 25, 2019). "Rapid increase in Asian bottles in the South Atlantic Ocean indicates major debris inputs from ships". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 116 (42): 20892–20897. Bibcode:2019PNAS..11620892R. doi:10.1073/pnas.1909816116. PMC 6800376. PMID 31570571.
- "Ocean plastic waste probably comes from ships, report says". AFP.com.
- "The Ocean Cleanup Project Secures Major Funding". subseaworldnews.com. May 5, 2017. Retrieved November 11, 2019.
- "The Ocean Cleanup". Crunchbase. Retrieved November 11, 2019.
- Kratochwill, Lindsey (March 26, 2016). "Too good to be true? The Ocean Cleanup Project faces feasibility questions". The Guardian. Retrieved November 11, 2019.
- "The audacious plan to clean plastics from the Pacific Ocean has broken down". NBC News. Retrieved 5 January 2019.
- "4 ways to tackle trash besides Ocean Cleanup's broken system". January 4, 2019.
- David Kirby (30 June 2014). "Ocean Plastic Pollution Costs $13 Billion a Year, and Your Face Scrub Is Part of the Problem". TakePart. Retrieved 2019-11-04.
- Simon, Matt (2019-01-09). "Ocean Cleanup's Plastic Catcher Is Busted. So What Now?". Wired. ISSN 1059-1028. Retrieved 2019-02-18.
- Wise, Jeff (October 9, 2018). "This Thiel-Backed Startup Says It Can Clean Up the Seas. Scientists Have Doubts". Bloomberg News. Archived from the original on 2018-12-16. Retrieved 2019-01-06.
- Solly, Meilan. "2,000-Foot-Long Plastic Catcher Released to Aid Cleanup of Great Pacific Garbage Patch". Smithsonian.
- Cózar, Andrés; Echevarría, Fidel; González-Gordillo, J. Ignacio; Irigoien, Xabier; Úbeda, Bárbara; Hernández-León, Santiago; Palma, Álvaro T.; Navarro, Sandra; García-de-Lomas, Juan (2014-07-15). "Plastic debris in the open ocean". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 111 (28): 10239–10244. Bibcode:2014PNAS..11110239C. doi:10.1073/pnas.1314705111. ISSN 0027-8424. PMC 4104848. PMID 24982135.
- "Dutch foundation launches project to tackle river plastic pollution | National Post". National Post. 2019-10-26. Retrieved 2019-10-26.
- Simon, Matt (2019-10-26). "Ocean Cleanup's New Plastic-Catcher … Kinda Already Exists?". Wired. ISSN 1059-1028. Retrieved 2019-10-26.
- Boyan Slat Founder – The Ocean Cleanup 2014 Champion of the Earth INSPIRATION AND ACTION Archived 2015-11-18 at the Wayback Machine, web.unep.org. Retrieved 2015-10-29.
- C2-MTL AND INTEL REVEAL TOP 20 FINALISTS, C2Montreal.com. Retrieved 2015-10-29.
- The 2015 Innovation By Design Awards Winners: Social Good Fastcodesign.com retrieved 2015-11-17
- "The Leading Global Thinkers of 2015". Foreign Policy. Retrieved 2015-12-08.
- "Plastic-scooping Ocean Cleanup project wins prestigious Katerva Award". Retrieved 2017-05-08.
- "Press release: Winner of the Heyerdahl Award 2017 – Nor-Shipping". Nor-Shipping. 2017-05-31. Retrieved 2017-06-28.