Rotterdam, Netherlands — December 2025
The worldwide initiative to eliminate plastic waste from ocean waters has achieved its most significant achievement to date. The Ocean Cleanup organization achieved its goal of removing more than 40 million kilograms (88 million pounds) of plastic waste from rivers and oceans worldwide during 2025 which became their most productive year to date.
The nonprofit organization achieved its first 20 million kilogram milestone during late 2024. The total funding amount exceeded its initial value by more than double during 2025 because of rapid technological progress and expanding global business operations of the company.
A Record-Breaking Year
The speed of momentum showed a major increase in its acceleration during 2025. The Ocean Cleanup organization achieved its goal of removing more than 30 million kilograms of plastic from the ocean by June. The waste collection efforts from all operations including ocean cleanups and river interception systems brought in 40 million kilograms of waste during the following five months.
A major factor behind this growth is the deployment of System 03 in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. System 03 operates at three times the capacity of previous systems because it can clean football field-sized areas during five-second intervals which represents a major improvement in operational speed.
Tackling Plastic on Two Fronts
The organization implements two main strategies which include massive ocean cleanup operations together with preventive measures that focus on the source of the problem.
System 03 operates as a legacy plastic removal system which uses specialized vessels to extract plastic waste that has been stuck in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch for multiple decades. The system removed more than 500,000 kilograms of waste from the region during its initial eight months of operation until August 2025.
The Interceptor™ program keeps growing because it has installed 20 systems which now operate in 9 different nations throughout the first half of 2025. The Ocean Cleanup introduced its 30 Cities Program during June 2025 to protect entire cities including Mumbai and Panama City from river-based plastic pollution which aims to decrease plastic waste by one-third throughout the world during 2030.
Global Partnerships Amplify Impact
The Ocean Cleanup achieved major progress through its international partnerships which included the viral campaign #TeamSeas that MrBeast from YouTube organized. The program achieved its goal by July 2024 because it enabled experts to eliminate 34 million pounds (15.4 million kilograms) of waste through their cleaning work and extensive volunteer involvement.
Looking Ahead to 2040
The challenge exists at a magnitude which exceeds all previous achievements. Scientists estimate that 75 to 199 million tonnes of plastic are currently present in the ocean. The Ocean Cleanup organization continues to pursue its goal of eliminating 90% of floating ocean plastic throughout the next twenty years.
The company founder Boyan Slat explained that focusing on complete cities instead of single rivers enables faster development at reduced expenses which produces substantial environmental benefits. The organization now dedicates its resources to deploying ten big ocean cleanup systems throughout the world instead of testing their systems.
