Who gains from saving nature
Ledger 1 : 33 — For each dollar financing nature-based solutions in 2023, about $33 financed activities harmful to nature. (UNEP)
Cases / Plastic waste and recycling claims · International waters · 2013–2025

Great Pacific Garbage Patch and The Ocean Cleanup

Nature's voice · report
No measurement of the harm done to me here is on record.
Did nature suffer? Not measured. Disputed
What the record lacks: 3 none on record · 1 not disclosed · 2 insufficient · 1 not measured · 3 disputed See the gaps
Accounts of the harm differ
Do the cleanup systems put surface life and other marine animals at risk?
  • Researchers Rebecca Helm, as published in The Atlantic: The system could destroy the neuston, the surface-dwelling ecosystem.
  • Company or project The Ocean Cleanup: "we have not found any evidence that supports the idea that the neuston are at risk." It names Velella as a common neuston species but gives no bycatch rates. The Ocean Cleanup
  • Researchers CSA Ocean Sciences (environmental impact assessment for System 03): Rated the neuston impact "negligible to low".
  • Government and regulators Dutch Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management: Commissioned a Sweco review of that assessment, dated 31 October 2024; The Ocean Cleanup committed to revise the assessment. Government of the Netherlands (Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management)
  • Researchers Egger et al., Scientific Reports (May 2025): Fish were about 84% of incidental catch by count, and endangered and vulnerable turtles have been caught. Seven of the 22 authors are employed by The Ocean Cleanup and the work was funded by its donors. Scientific Reports (PubMed Central)
Can cleaning up the patch address the scale of the problem?
  • Company or project The Ocean Cleanup: Goal of removing 90% of floating ocean plastic by 2040; says the patch can be cleaned in ten years for US$7.5bn. The Ocean Cleanup
  • Researchers Exeter/Hohn modelling study (2020), as reported: 200 devices running from 2020 to 2150 would remove about 44,900 t, "just over 5%"; the study calls the devices "relatively expensive. per unit of plastic removed".
  • Researchers Bergmann et al., One Earth (2023): Calls plastic cleanup technology a fallacy and calls for science-based criteria and prevention upstream. Bergmann et al., One Earth 6(11):1439
  • Communities and civil society Break Free From Plastic: Called the Coca-Cola partnership an "end-of-pipe intervention".

A Dutch foundation set out in 2013 to clean up the Great Pacific Garbage Patch with floating systems. By the end of 2023 its ocean catch totalled 346,435 kg, against a patch estimated at 79,000 tonnes or more.

346,435 kg vs at least 79,000 t estimateOcean catch to end of 2023 vs estimated floating plastic in the patch
Figures as published by The Ocean Cleanup (2023 annual report) and Lebreton et al. (2018); not converted or compared. The organisation reported a cumulative total above 45 million kg by the end of 2025, including rivers; the ocean and river split was not published.

Status As of January 2026: The Ocean Cleanup reported more than 45 million kg collected in total, mostly from rivers; its ocean catch figures remain self-reported and the Dutch ministry's review of System 03's impact assessment (October 2024) is on record.

What?
A Dutch foundation, The Ocean Cleanup, builds floating systems to remove plastic from the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, estimated in 2018 at 79,000 tonnes or more over about 1.6 million km². Its cumulative ocean catch was 346,435 kg at the end of 2023. The Ocean Cleanup
Where?
The Great Pacific Garbage Patch, North Pacific; the foundation is based in Rotterdam. Scientific Reports (open archive HAL)
When?
Foundation incorporated 15 February 2013; System 001 launched 8 September 2018; System 03 deployed August 2023; data to 2025. The Ocean Cleanup
Who?
Gained
  • The Ocean Cleanup — Revenue of €59.3m in 2023, almost entirely donations; around USD 250m attracted in the first ten years The Ocean Cleanup
  • Partners including Kia, Coca-Cola, Maersk Supply Service, Hyundai Glovis and Deloitte — Named as sponsors or partners in the 2023 annual report The Ocean Cleanup
Lost
None on record
Harmed
Why?
The founder proposed cleaning the patch and funding it with 1% of plastic producers' revenue; the foundation's stated goal is to remove 90% of floating ocean plastic by 2040. The Ocean Cleanup
How?
Floating barriers and drifting systems collect plastic and are periodically emptied (extractions); river Interceptors collect plastic before it reaches the sea. Funding comes from donors and corporate partners. The Ocean Cleanup
6 of 6 questions answered from the record

What happened

The record, in order.

A 2018 study by Lebreton and colleagues, based on 652 net tows from 18 vessels plus aerial surveys, estimated that at least 79,000 tonnes of plastic floated in an area of about 1.6 million km² in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. That was 4 to 16 times earlier estimates. At least 46% of the mass was fishing nets. Microplastics were 8% of the mass but 94% of an estimated 1.8 trillion pieces. The authors said the pollution was "increasing exponentially". A 2022 study in Scientific Reports (Lebreton and colleagues), announced by The Ocean Cleanup in a press release, found that 75% to 86% of the mass was fishing-related.

Stichting The Ocean Cleanup was incorporated on 15 February 2013 in Rotterdam. It grew out of founder Boyan Slat's 2012 TEDx Delft talk. A 2014 crowdfunding campaign raised more than US$2 million from 38,000 funders in 160 countries. Its June 2014 feasibility study (528 pages) said that a 100 km array could remove 42% of the patch in 10 years, at an estimated €317 million.

The first system, System 001 ("Wilson"), was launched from San Francisco on 8 September 2018. It did not retain plastic effectively, and on 29 December 2018 a fatigue fracture detached an 18 m end section. It was towed to Hilo, arriving on 17 January 2019. System 002 recovered 101,353 kg over 45 extractions, sweeping more than 3,000 km²; with earlier prototypes the patch total was 108,526 kg in early 2022. System 03 was deployed in August 2023, with wings of about 2.2 km, and its largest single extraction was about 18 tonnes. The organisation's 2023 annual report recorded a cumulative ocean catch of 346,435 kg, of which 150,884 kg was caught in 2023. For 2025 it reported more than 25 million kg collected and a cumulative total above 45 million kg; the ocean and river split was not published, and the dashboard says catch numbers are "not verified by DNV in real-time".

The 2023 consolidated accounts showed revenue of €59.3 million, almost all donations, and expenses of €44.5 million. The report said that around USD 250 million was attracted in funding in the first ten years, largely from private philanthropy. Partners named in the report include Kia, The Coca-Cola Company (Interceptors in Asia and the US), Maersk Supply Service and the A.P. Moller Group, Hyundai Glovis and Deloitte. An A.P. Moller observer sits on the Supervisory Board.

The organisation's promises changed over time: 42% of the patch in 10 years (2014), 50% in five years (2017 and 2018), 90% of floating ocean plastic by 2040 (current goal), and in September 2024 a clean-up of the patch in ten years for US$7.5 billion or in five years for US$4 billion, to be funded by 1% of plastic producers' revenue as Slat proposed. A marine biologist wrote in 2019 that the system could destroy surface life (the neuston), and the organisation replied that it had found no evidence for this. A 2025 study found that fish were about 84% of the incidental catch by count and that endangered and vulnerable turtles had been caught. Seven of its 22 authors are employed by The Ocean Cleanup. The Dutch ministry commissioned a review of the 2023 environmental impact assessment, dated 31 October 2024.

  1. 2012Boyan Slat's TEDx Delft talk
  2. 2013Stichting The Ocean Cleanup incorporated in Rotterdam (15 February)
  3. 2014Crowdfunding raises more than US$2m; feasibility study: 100 km array could remove 42% of the patch in 10 years for an estimated €317m
  4. 2018Lebreton et al. estimate at least 79,000 t of floating plastic; System 001 launched 8 September; fatigue fracture 29 December
  5. 2019System 001 towed to Hilo (17 January); criticism on surface life (The Atlantic, January) and the organisation's reply (6 February)
  6. 2020Sunglasses made from patch plastic launched (October); Exeter modelling published
  7. 2021Coca-Cola becomes global partner (river Interceptors)
  8. 2022Interceptor Trashfence in Guatemala written off at €1.3m; Lebreton et al. find 75–86% of the mass fishing-related
  9. 2023System 03 deployed (August); environmental impact assessment by CSA Ocean Sciences (August); cumulative ocean catch 346,435 kg at year end
  10. 2024$7.5bn clean-up claim (September); Dutch ministry's Sweco review (31 October); Coca-Cola revises packaging goals (December)
  11. 2025Study on incidental catch published (27 May); organisation reports more than 25 million kg collected, above 45 million kg cumulative

What was said

Claims, in the words of those who made them.

“clean up 50 percent of the patch in just five years' time”

Boyan Slat, founder of The Ocean Cleanup · May 2017

“a scaled-up fleet of 60 systems could eventually clean up 50% of the Patch in the next 5 years.”

Statement reported by UN Environment · September 2018

“removing 90% of all floating plastic from the ocean by 2040.”

The Ocean Cleanup, current goal · current

“in ten years time at a cost of $7.5 billion”

“we have not found any evidence that supports the idea that the neuston are at risk.”

“relatively expensive. per unit of plastic removed”

Exeter/Hohn modelling study on the devices, as reported · 2020

“end-of-pipe intervention”

Break Free From Plastic, on the Coca-Cola partnership ·

Where accounts differ

Each party's account, side by side, with its source. The record does not settle these points; it shows them.

Do the cleanup systems put surface life and other marine animals at risk?
Researchers
Rebecca Helm, as published in The Atlantic

The system could destroy the neuston, the surface-dwelling ecosystem.

Company or project
The Ocean Cleanup

"we have not found any evidence that supports the idea that the neuston are at risk." It names Velella as a common neuston species but gives no bycatch rates.

The Ocean Cleanup
Researchers
CSA Ocean Sciences (environmental impact assessment for System 03)

Rated the neuston impact "negligible to low".

Government and regulators
Dutch Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management

Commissioned a Sweco review of that assessment, dated 31 October 2024; The Ocean Cleanup committed to revise the assessment.

Government of the Netherlands (Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management)
Researchers
Egger et al., Scientific Reports (May 2025)

Fish were about 84% of incidental catch by count, and endangered and vulnerable turtles have been caught. Seven of the 22 authors are employed by The Ocean Cleanup and the work was funded by its donors.

Scientific Reports (PubMed Central)
Can cleaning up the patch address the scale of the problem?
Company or project
The Ocean Cleanup

Goal of removing 90% of floating ocean plastic by 2040; says the patch can be cleaned in ten years for US$7.5bn.

The Ocean Cleanup
Researchers
Exeter/Hohn modelling study (2020), as reported

200 devices running from 2020 to 2150 would remove about 44,900 t, "just over 5%"; the study calls the devices "relatively expensive. per unit of plastic removed".

Researchers
Bergmann et al., One Earth (2023)

Calls plastic cleanup technology a fallacy and calls for science-based criteria and prevention upstream.

Bergmann et al., One Earth 6(11):1439
Communities and civil society
Break Free From Plastic

Called the Coca-Cola partnership an "end-of-pipe intervention".

How it looked

What was shown, beside what was recorded.

Shown

  • A 100 km array could remove 42% of the patch in 10 years, at an estimated €317m.
    The Ocean Cleanup feasibility study, June 2014 · The Ocean Cleanup
  • The patch can be cleaned in ten years for US$7.5bn, or in five years for US$4bn, funded by 1% of plastic producers' revenue.
    The Ocean Cleanup and Boyan Slat, September 2024 · The Ocean Cleanup
  • One pair of sunglasses is said to fund 24 football fields of clean-up; 100% of proceeds go to clean-up.
    The Ocean Cleanup, October 2020 · The Ocean Cleanup
  • 30 Cities Program: tackle one third of riverine pollution worldwide by 2030, for US$350m (of which US$121m came from The Audacious Project).
    The Ocean Cleanup

Recorded

  • System 001 did not retain plastic effectively and broke on 29 December 2018.
    The Ocean Cleanup
  • Cumulative ocean catch at end 2023: 346,435 kg (150,884 kg in 2023), against at least 79,000 t of floating plastic estimated in 2018.
    The Ocean Cleanup
  • 2025: more than 25 million kg collected, above 45 million kg cumulative; ocean and river split not published; dashboard says numbers are "not verified by DNV in real-time".
    The Ocean Cleanup
  • Interceptors: the Jakarta prototype stalled after rain; on the Klang River the operator reported 800 to 1,500 kg a day against a rated 50,000 kg a day (Mongabay, 2020).
  • 2022: the Interceptor Trashfence in Guatemala was written off at €1.3m.
    The Ocean Cleanup
  • American Friends of The Ocean Cleanup (US affiliate), fiscal year 2024: revenue US$12.5m, expenses US$17.7m.
    ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer
  • Lebreton et al. (2018): at least 79,000 t of floating plastic over about 1.6 million km², from 652 net tows and aerial surveys; the authors said the pollution was increasing exponentially.
    Scientific Reports (open archive HAL)
  • Lebreton et al. (2022) found that 75% to 86% of the mass was fishing-related.
    Scientific Reports (PubMed Central)
  • The Ocean Cleanup announced the 2022 result in a press release titled "Over 75% of plastic in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch originates from fishing".
    The Ocean Cleanup
  • 2023 product sales revenue was €21 thousand; sunglasses sold out since February 2022.
    The Ocean Cleanup
  • Break Free From Plastic's 2023 audit listed The Coca-Cola Company, Nestlé, Unilever, PepsiCo and Mondelēz International as the top global plastic polluters of 2023.
    Break Free From Plastic
  • A 2024 brand-audit study (Cowger et al., Science Advances) covering 1,576 audit events in 84 countries (2018–2022) attributed 11% of branded plastic waste to Coca-Cola and 5% to PepsiCo; 56 companies account for more than 50% of branded waste, and 50% of items were unbranded.
  • Coca-Cola's 2018 goal was to collect a bottle or can for each one sold by 2030; in December 2024 it dropped the reuse target and the virgin-plastic reduction goal.
    Waste Dive
  • In December 2024 Coca-Cola lowered its 2030 goal of collecting the equivalent of 100% of its packaging to 70–75% by 2035 and removed its 25% reuse target.
    Mongabay

Who gained

Money that reached nature, beside money that stayed elsewhere.

Reached nature or the ground

Not published
No figure published.

Gained elsewhere

Not totalled
Currency: EUR · Window: 2023. All figures cover the same period. * Estimate built from cited figures.

Responses on record

  • The Ocean Cleanup (6 February 2019; August 2023): "we have not found any evidence that supports the idea that the neuston are at risk." Its System 03 environmental impact assessment (CSA Ocean Sciences, August 2023) rated the neuston impact "negligible to low". · The Ocean Cleanup
  • The Ocean Cleanup (October 2024): Committed to revise its environmental impact assessment after the Dutch ministry's review. · Government of the Netherlands (Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management)

In court and with insurers

Every proceeding and every insurer decision on record.

Lawsuits and rulings

No court case on record. No court has ruled on this case.

Insurers

No insurer decision on record.

What nature saw

Outcomes measured on the ground, and nature's note.

Nature's report opens this page. Below: further outcomes measured on the ground.

Floating plastic in the patch
at least 79,000 t
Lebreton et al. 2018; about 1.6 million km²
Ocean catch, end of 2023
346,435 kg
The Ocean Cleanup annual report 2023; 150,884 kg in 2023
Incidental catch in the cleanup systems
~84% fish
By count; endangered and vulnerable turtles caught (Egger et al. 2025; 7 of 22 authors employed by the organisation)
Cost per kilogram removed
Not published
The organisation has not published a cost per kilogram

What we don't know

Undisclosed, unproven, untried: recorded as data.
Under standard-setter reviewKey earnings undisclosed

Nature

  • Not measured Harm to nature: The record holds no measurement of harm to nature.
  • Disputed Do the cleanup systems put surface life and other marine animals at risk?
  • Disputed Can cleaning up the patch address the scale of the problem?

Record

  • Not disclosed The Ocean Cleanup has not published a cost per kilogram removed.
  • None on record The ocean and river split of the 2025 total (above 45 million kg cumulative) has not been published.
  • Insufficient The organisation's dashboard says its catch numbers are "not verified by DNV in real-time".
  • None on record The reply to the neuston criticism names Velella as a common neuston species but gives no bycatch rates.
  • Disputed Reported figures for the 2024 ocean catch differ between sources (143,993 kg in one annual-report extract; more than 500,600 kg cumulative over 23 trips in a late-2024 secondary report).
  • Insufficient Reported but not independently verified: press reports at the time put the amount removed by September 2024 (over one million pounds) at about 0.5% of the patch.
  • None on record The organisation committed to revise the System 03 environmental impact assessment after the Dutch ministry's review of 31 October 2024.

Did the harm stop?

The sources reviewed do not record that plastic accumulation in the patch has stopped or declined. The organisation's cumulative ocean catch was 346,435 kg at the end of 2023.

Who paid?

The organisation's 2023 accounts show revenue of €59.3 million, almost entirely donations; it reports that around USD 250 million was attracted in the first ten years, largely from private philanthropy. Partners named include Coca-Cola, Kia, Maersk Supply Service and the A.P. Moller Group, Hyundai Glovis and Deloitte.

Sources

Voices on record: ✓ Company or project✓ Government and regulators— Courts✓ Press and investigations✓ Communities and civil society✓ Researchers✓ Standard-setters and registries

Company or project

  2. Feasibility study
    The Ocean Cleanup · 2014-06
  4. System 001
    The Ocean Cleanup ·
  5. 2025 in review: The Ocean Cleanup
    The Ocean Cleanup · 2026-01
  6. Annual Report 2023
    The Ocean Cleanup · 2024-06
  7. The Ocean Cleanup and the neuston
    The Ocean Cleanup · 2019-02-06

Government and regulators

  1. Review of The Ocean Cleanup
    Government of the Netherlands (Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management) · 2024-10-31

Press and investigations

Communities and civil society

  1. BFFP movement unveils 2023 global brand audit results
    Break Free From Plastic · 2024-02-07

Researchers

  2. Lebreton et al. 2022, Scientific Reports 12:16529
    Scientific Reports (PubMed Central) · 2022-09
  4. Egger et al. 2025, Scientific Reports 15:16736 (net-benefit study)
    Scientific Reports (PubMed Central) · 2025-05-27

Standard-setters and registries

  1. American Friends of The Ocean Cleanup
    ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer ·

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