With its 100th extraction completed in May 2024, The Ocean Cleanup has removed nearly 850,000 pounds of plastic from the Great Pacific Garbage Patch (GPGP) so far, with more than 24 million pounds of plastic removed from aquatic areas around the world. The Ocean Cleanup, an international non-profit organization, is on a mission to rid the oceans of plastic and is working on the problem from two angles: cleaning up legacy floating plastic in the GPGP and preventing more plastic from reaching the ocean from the world’s most polluting rivers. After years of testing, The Ocean Cleanup successfully removed its first plastic from the GPGP in 2019. Since then, the organization has continuously improved its methods, culminating in the development of the larger and more efficient System 03. Additionally, to tackle the root of the problem, The Ocean Cleanup developed Interceptor Solutions to intercept and remove plastic from polluting rivers. All extracted plastic is also tracked and traced to ensure its origin when recycled. “This is an important milestone in a key year for The Ocean Cleanup,” said Boyan Slat, founder and CEO. “We’ve come a long way since our first extraction in 2019. During the 2024 season, with System 03, we aim to demonstrate that we are ready to scale up and, with it, confine the Great Pacific Garbage Patch to the history books.” The May extraction was also the first time that removal was live-streamed from start to finish.