The Ocean Cleanup lands expansion agreement with Dutch and Indonesian governments to fight marine pollution

17 Nov 2022 --- The Indonesian and Dutch governments have signed a joint declaration with non-profit organization The Ocean Cleanup to expand river cleaning technologies throughout Indonesia and help the country achieve its target of reducing marine plastic debris by 70% before 2025. The collaboration is now looking for potential packaging industry partners. 

The declaration follows a pilot program launched in 2017 in which The Ocean Cleanup’s Interceptor 001 technology was deployed in Jakarta, Indonesia. It is 100% solar-powered and extracts plastic autonomously from rivers. 

A spokesperson from the organization tells PackagingInsights: “Our Interceptor Original has been operational in Jakarta since 2019 and has removed over 20,000 kg of plastic from the river. We have since expanded our Interceptor portfolio to allow us to tackle trash in all manner of river environments and conditions.” 

The expansion of these technologies includes upgrades to the Interceptor Originals – deployed in Malaysia, Vietnam, the Dominican Republic, the US and Indonesia.

Interceptor technology working in the Dominican Republic.“Ridding the oceans of plastic is a huge challenge, and all stakeholders have a role to play. We are always keen to speak with new potential partners or collaborators to discuss possible uses of our plastic catch, including potentially in packaging, and we encourage any interested parties to contact us,” says the spokesperson. 

Interceptor barriers 
Other technologies developed by the Ocean Cleanup include The Interceptor Barrier and Interceptor Tender (operational in Jamaica) and experimental solutions such as the Interceptor Trashfence, recently trialed in Guatemala. 

These technologies collect large amounts of trash from rivers and coastlines. So far, the Interceptor Originals alone have collected over 1 million kilograms of trash from rivers globally.

After fleets of systems are deployed into every ocean gyre, combined with source reduction, The Ocean Cleanup estimates it will be able to remove 90% of all floating plastic by 2040. 

“Marine plastic debris is our common enemy. Polluted rivers are a source of plastic debris leakage into the ocean. We require extraordinary and integrated solutions to responsibly manage the waste in the river and in the ocean,” states Minister Luhut, coordinating minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment of Indonesia.

Call on governments 
The spokesperson tells us they hope governments will recognize the “urgency of this man-made and solvable issue and will take concrete steps to clean up the legacy plastic already in the oceans while stopping the inflow from rivers.” 

“Cleaning the oceans and preventing inflow from rivers is a huge undertaking and requires governments to prioritize the issue and follow through on commitments.”

The Ocean Cleanup is a member of various plastic intergovernmental groups, such as the Global Partnership on Marine Litter, and recently received Consultative Status from the UN, allowing it to influence the upcoming negotiations for the UN Plastic Treaty. 

“It’s very encouraging to see this positive collaboration between our two governments and The Ocean Cleanup continue,” says Lambert Grijns, ambassador of the Netherlands in Indonesia. 

“Despite the scale of the plastic challenge, the endorsement of these innovative solutions and partnerships gives me hope that we can work together to finally solve this problem for the benefit of all.”

By Louis Gore-Langton