Episode Details

In 2012 teenager Boyan Slat took a TED stage with a sketch of a passive barrier that would let ocean currents sweep plastic into its arms, delighting the public and drawing eye rolls from oceanographers. He founded The Ocean Cleanup in 2013 and raised 2 million dollars through crowdfunding in 2014 for a 100-kilometer barrier moored to the seabed with a conveyor belt. Testing ran through 273 scale models and six prototypes, and a North Sea test in 2016 shredded a conventional oil boom. Slat scaled down to a free-floating, 2-kilometer design made of flexible high-density polyethylene pipe.

System 001 reached the Great Pacific Garbage Patch in 2018 but drifted at the same speed as the plastic, which washed back out, and an 18-meter section of pipe snapped off, forcing a tow back to Hawaii. System 001B in 2019 added a deep parachute anchor to slow the barrier and finally held trash. Passive drift was still too slow, so System 002, nicknamed Jenny, was towed by two crewed ships in 2021, followed by the 2.25-kilometer System 03 in 2023. A 30-ship Mega Expedition in 2015 and a 2016 C-130 flight with LIDAR helped show that 86 percent of ocean plastic comes from rivers, leading to the solar-powered Interceptor barge in 2019.

• System 03 uses 15-millimeter mesh, cameras, acoustic deterrents, and a Marine Animal Safety Hatch to free trapped animals.
• Flash floods in Jakarta broke an early Interceptor barrier.
• After a 2024 storm, a fortified barrier on Guatemala's Las Vacas River caught 1.4 million kilograms of waste in hours.
• Scientists including Miriam Goldstein argued near-shore collection is cheaper, and ecologists warn the nets skim neuston such as blue buttons.
• Funding came from 200-euro sunglasses, partners Kia and MrBeast, and a 121 million dollar Audacious Project grant.