Rotterdam welcomes The Ocean Cleanup

06/29/18

The Ocean Cleanup, a Dutch non-profit organization that develops advanced technologies to rid the world’s oceans of plastic, has moved its headquarters to Rotterdam. The Ocean Cleanup’s 80 employees moved this week into their new headquarters on the Batavierenstraat, an office space provided by the Stichting Verre Bergen.

Boyan Slat, Founder and CEO of The Ocean Cleanup: “After five years in Delft, the city where both The Ocean Cleanup and myself were born, it’s time to move into a new head office which suits our size and future ambitions. We would like to thank Stichting de Verre Bergen and the city of Rotterdam for making this possible.”

Given the shared focus on the world’s oceans and a culture of action rather than words, Rotterdam is the most logical home base for The Ocean Cleanup. From its new headquarters, the organization will focus on design, engineering and coordination of projects to free the world’s oceans from plastic.

Later this summer, The Ocean Cleanup plans to launch its first cleanup system from San Francisco, which will their most significant milestone. The activities of The Ocean Cleanup are facilitated by contributions from a wide range of donors, from small to (very) big; and although The Ocean Cleanup is a foundation, it does not rely on government funding, apart from a one-time grant from the Ministry of Infrastructure and Environment in 2016

The Ocean Cleanup is welcomed by Mayor Ahmed Aboutaleb: “Rotterdam innovates and experiments in order to make the city future-proof for all of us. The future of The Ocean Cleanup ties in neatly with the ambitions of Rotterdam in the fields of water, climate change and a circular economy. Making our waters free of plastic is vital to the city, in rivers and the sea. I’m extremely proud of the fact that after the international GCECA Climate Centre, the internationally praised The Ocean Cleanup moors in our port.”

More information on: The Ocean Cleanup

Rotterdam is the home base for more organizations who commit themselves to the management and preservation of nature. Some examples:

Recycled Park Recycled Park is the proposal to retrieve plastic waste from the river the New Meuse just before it reaches the North Sea. The plastics are recycled to give new value to the river. In the Rotterdam harbor a 140m2 Recycled Park is now realized and will be officially opened on July 4th. This floating park will illustrate what the potential is in the creation of new floating landscapes with recycled plastics as material. The floating park contributes to greening the city and the improvement of the ecosystem in the Rotterdam harbor.

Aerial shot of the river Maas in Rotterdam. Photo: Gerhard van Roon, Kunst en Vliegwerk

Sea Ranger Service The Sea Ranger Service is the world’s first maritime ranger service. As a social enterprise, it builds specially-designed sailing work ships and trains (partly unemployed) youths, during an intense boot camp, to become Sea Rangers. After extensive maritime training, coordinated by navy veterans, Sea Rangers are deployed to assist nations in managing marine protected areas, marine research and to conserve historic shipwrecks as cultural heritage. At the same time, the rapid development of offshore seaweed farming offers opportunities for the Sea Rangers to play an active role in seafood innovation and to develop sustainable blue economies in otherwise deprived coastal regions. The first Sea Rangers are trained and preparations are underway to start operational work at sea from August 2018.

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About The Ocean Cleanup

The Ocean Cleanup develops advanced technologies to rid the world’s oceans of plastic. Founded in 2013 by Boyan Slat (now 23 years of age), The Ocean Cleanup now employs approximately 80 engineers and researchers. The foundation is headquartered in Rotterdam, The Netherlands. Instead of going after plastic debris with vessels and nets – which would take many thousands of years and billions of dollars to complete – The Ocean Cleanup is designing a fleet of extremely long floating screens that will remain in the water to act like an artificial coastline, enabling the ocean to concentrate the plastic using the natural forces of its own currents. Once fully operational, a fleet of 60 passive collection systems is expected to remove 50% of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch in 5 years’ time. After years of conducting reconnaissance expeditions, scale model tests and the deployment of prototypes on the North Sea, the first full-scale cleanup system is currently in production in the San Francisco Bay Area (California). It is set to be deployed in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch by late summer 2018.