2023: Our Most Impactful Year Yet | The Ocean Cleanup

At The Ocean Cleanup, we aim for maximum impact, and in 2023, our impact was off the chart. We began the year here, and we ended up... Well, let's rewind. We started the year strongly in Jamaica, where Interceptor 11 captured its first plastic in Kingston Harbor. And up in the United States, Interceptor 7 was stopping tons of trash from leaking into the Pacific Ocean, helping to keep those California beaches clean. Far from land in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, we continued to extract plastic, as we started the transition from System 002 to the upgraded System 03. While in Malaysia, we opened our first regional office in Kuala Lumpur, bringing us closer to the communities living alongside our Interceptors. And then, in Guatemala, this happened. Interceptor 6 reported for duty in the Rio Las Vacas, quickly becoming our most impactful Interceptor so far, capturing 1.4 million kilograms of trash in its first three months alone. And the good news kept coming. System 002 signed off in style, bringing our biggest ever haul of ocean plastic back to port. Our crew and community turned out to show their appreciation, and wish System 002 a happy retirement. Thanks, Jenny. And while you're here, thanks to you too. Wherever you are in the world, and whatever you do to help us rid the oceans of plastic, you make all of this possible. Now, where were we? Time to get back to work. In August, we returned to the Pacific to launch System 03, or as we call him, Josh. Three times bigger, more efficient, and with new marine protection features, System 03 can clean the area of a football field every five seconds. Josh made an impact right away with a massive extraction of 18 tons, our biggest ever, and what a great start. We're working with partners to give this plastic a new life, keeping it out of the oceans for good. But you'll have to stay tuned in 2024 to find out just what we're cooking up. Anyway, we're not quite done with 2023 yet. We had milestones in Malaysia, where Interceptor 2 hit 2 million kilograms captured since deployment, while in Indonesia, we're working hard to deploy Interceptor 20 in the Chisadanya River. And back where we started in Jamaica, we ended 2023 with not one, not two, but three more Interceptors across Kingston, as we continue enabling the city to transform Kingston Harbor. So, that was 2023 for The Ocean Cleanup, our most phenomenal year in impact yet. But there's still millions of kilograms of plastic in our oceans, and with your help next year, we want to catch even more. Follow our story, share our impact with everyone who cares about our oceans, and let's keep moving forward to solve this planet-sized problem together. Visit theoceancleanup.com slash donate to join us and rid the oceans of plastic.