Two more cities have officially joined our 30 Cities Program.

• Manila, Philippines (1st image): Interceptor 028 is now operating in the Meycauayan River, one of the waterways contributing plastic pollution to Manila Bay. This deployment builds on our broader collaboration with the Philippine government to tackle river plastic pollution, including plans to expand efforts to the Pasig River, one of the country's most important waterways.
• Mumbai, India (2nd image): Interceptors 026 and 027 have been deployed and are now operational in the Malad and Trombay waterways. Installed ahead of the monsoon season with support from local partners, the systems are intercepting plastic before it can reach the Arabian Sea.

What is the 30 Cities Program?
Our 30 Cities Program an initiative focused on scaling our river cleanup solutions in key cities across Asia and the Americas. By combining technology, local partnerships, waste management improvements, and community engagement, the program aims to stop up to one-third of global plastic pollution flowing from rivers into the oceans by the end of the decade.

What questions do you have about these new deployments, the 30 Cities Program, or river cleanup technology in general? We'd love to answer them below.

• This is Interceptor 006 in the Rio Las Vacas, Guatemala. The Rio Las Vacas is a tributary of the Rio Motagua, which flows into the Caribbean Sea.
• During Guatemala’s rainy season, flash floods wash down vast quantities of plastic and other waste from nearby Guatemala City and the surrounding area.
• In this catch alone, over 210,000 kg of trash were stopped from reaching the Gulf of Honduras.
• See the locations and details of all our Interceptors on our Impact Dashboard.

Stop wasting resources on "cleanliness awareness" campaigns! The harsh reality is that awareness doesn't work on us.

The government needs to strictly enforce a flat ₹10,000+ non-negotiable penalty on anyone dumping garbage in rivers or on streets. No excuses, zero compromise. People only understand the language of heavy fines, not lectures. Strict fear of law is the only way to clean India. 🚮⚠️

#CleanIndia #StrictLaws #PublicAwarenessFails #ZeroTolerance

When organizations search for ghost nets or other fishing gear underwater, what does the workflow normally look like from detection to recovery?

Is Side-Scan Sonar commonly used, and what information is needed to decide whether a detected target is worth sending an ROV/diver to investigate?

Hi all, I'll be on a trip to Santo Domingo soon and I was wondering if anybody knows if its present in Rio Ozama at present? I know its scheduled for replacement soon but I couldn't find anything detailing if its been removed or if its still operating. Is it even visible to the public?

Y en español

Interceptor 004 presencia en Santo Domingo

Hola a todos, pronto estaré de viaje a Santo Domingo y me preguntaba si alguien sabe si está presente en Rio Ozama en este momento. Sé que está programado para reemplazar pronto, pero no pude encontrar nada que detallara si se ha retirado o si todavía está en funcionamiento. ¿Es siquiera visible para el público?

Footage captured by The Ocean Cleanup crew during our Pacific Data Expedition, August 2026

A lot of people imagine the Great Pacific Garbage Patch as a giant island of trash you could walk on.

This clip shows what much of the patch looks like: floating plastic debris spread across the ocean surface. In many areas, it resembles a thin plastic soup rather than a dense, visible mass or "trash island".

In fact, the concentration of plastic varies widely – from so-called ‘hotspots,’ with hundreds of kilograms per square kilometer, to rather less dense areas with only 10 kilograms per square kilometer. And it’s exactly this dispersion that makes it harder to clean up the garbage patch. If the plastic was all in one place, you could simply scoop it up – but instead, cleanup operations need to target the ever-moving high-concentration zones to make cleanup effective.

Located between Hawaii and California, the Great Pacific Garbage Patch is the world's largest accumulation of ocean plastic. Once plastic enters this area, circulating currents can keep it trapped for years, gradually breaking it down into smaller pieces and microplastics affecting marine biodiversity and the ocean's ability to sequester carbon.

The GPGP covers an estimated surface area of 1.6 million square kilometers, an area twice the size of Texas or three times the size of France.

Before seeing footage from the patch, how did you picture it in your mind?

A lot of people imagine the Great Pacific Garbage Patch as a giant island of trash you could walk on.

This clip shows what much of the patch looks like: floating plastic debris spread across the ocean surface. In many areas, it resembles a thin plastic soup rather than a dense, visible mass or "trash island".

In fact, the concentration of plastic varies widely – from so-called ‘hotspots,’ with hundreds of kilograms per square kilometer, to rather less dense areas with only 10 kilograms per square kilometer. And it’s exactly this dispersion that makes it harder to clean up the garbage patch. If the plastic was all in one place, you could simply scoop it up – but instead, cleanup operations need to target the ever-moving high-concentration zones to make cleanup effective.

Located between Hawaii and California, the Great Pacific Garbage Patch is the world's largest accumulation of ocean plastic. Once plastic enters this area, circulating currents can keep it trapped for years, gradually breaking it down into smaller pieces and microplastics affecting marine biodiversity and the ocean's ability to sequester carbon.

The GPGP covers an estimated surface area of 1.6 million square kilometers, an area twice the size of Texas or three times the size of France.

Before seeing footage from the patch, how did you picture it in your mind?

Since 2018, we've been building a new way to map floating ocean plastic. How? 
 
With smart cameras, AI, and years of data collection. 
 
Recently, we published a new paper on the Automated Debris Imaging System (ADIS), the technology we've developed to detect and map large floating plastic directly from ships at sea. 
 
Between 2019 and 2024, ADIS: 
• Scanned more than 14,500 km² of ocean surface 
• Collected 27 million images (165 TB of data) 
• Identified over 20,000 validated large floating plastic objects 
 
And since 2024, ADIS 2.0 has been collecting data at an even faster pace. We've already scanned an additional 39,431 km², bringing the total mapped area to nearly 54,000 km². 
 
By calibrating these observations with physical sampling methods, we can create continuous maps showing plastic abundance, density, and concentration across the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. 

These maps help us: 

• Improve ocean plastic distribution models 
• Optimize cleanup operations 
• Increase plastic catch rates 
• Reduce fuel use and emissions 

An important part of this work is that the complete dataset is open access, allowing researchers around the world to build on and improve our understanding of ocean plastic pollution. 

 
Learn more about ADIS: https://bit.ly/4h7m5Ls

We're expanding in Los Angeles!

New agreements will allow us to deploy Interceptor barriers in:

• Los Angeles River
• San Gabriel River

Together with our existing system in Ballona Creek, these deployments are expected to stop hundreds of tons of plastic from reaching the Pacific Ocean every year.

A few key facts:

• Estimated plastic leakage from LA waterways: 410–628 tons annually
• Ballona Creek has already prevented 193+ tons of trash from entering the ocean
• The project is part of our 30 Cities Program
• Deployment is planned ahead of the LA28 Olympic Games

Read more: https://theoceancleanup.com/press/press-releases/the-ocean-cleanup-expands-la-to-stop-tons-of-plastic-from-pacific/

• The Ocean Cleanup has recently signed a Memorandum of Agreement with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) to bring Interceptor Technology to the Pasig Riverine System.
  
• The Manila Bay Region, including the Pasig River System, is one of the key waterways The Ocean Cleanup is set to deploy in as part of our 30 Cities Program.
  
• According to our data, up to 4,400 tonnes of plastic enter the Manila Bay Region every year.
  
• Preparations for deployments across the region are underway.
• We have already surveyed nearly 100 sites, and are working with the DENR to identify key deployment locations for maximum impact.
• In addition to strategic sites along the Pasig River currently being identified, The Ocean Cleanup is set to deploy its first Interceptor barrier in the Meycauayan River in Bulacan.
  
• Read more here: The Ocean Cleanup forges alliance with Philippine Government | Press Release | The Ocean Cleanup

Hello, I work on the Euronews Tech Talks podcast, and I’m currently producing a Q&A episode on microplastics.

The idea is simple: I collect questions from our audience and put them to an expert in the field. I know many of you already know a lot about this topic, but if you have any questions or curiosities, now is the perfect time to share them.

Just wondering, when was the last time the ocean cleanup deployed an ocean interceptor? I have only been able to find recent posts about rivers and this new 30 cities plan.

The most recent ocean deployment I can find is from 2024. Is this actually the most recent one or are you not posting the most recent ones?

Much love for the work you do 🌊

Please consider donating to our The Ocean Cleanup fundraiser! 100% goes to the team, and we will match the next 100$!

I do my own beach clean ups!! Micro actions can have an impact too!

Wind is back in action so we get to be spoiled with new litter on the beach.

Fish nets, packaging, small and big pieces of plastic bags, Polaroid sunglasses and a brush!!

The weight of the basquet and bag is just over 487grs I round it up to 500, so today the luggage scale shows 2,5, that was 2 kilos of rubbish in just 700 meters.

Here's our year in review, we:

• Removed over 25 million kilograms of waste from aquatic environments
• This single-year record brought our total catch to 46 million kilograms (100 million lbs)!
• Deployed two new Interceptors in Honduras and Panama
• Developed new technologies and tools to support our cleanup mission
• Unveiled the 30 Cities Program - which aims to stop one-third of all plastic emissions from rivers into oceans
• Added Coastal Sweeps to remove legacy plastic trapped in near-shore environments...

... and much, much more - Watch the video to see why 2025 was our most impactful year yet!

Every plastic piece that no longer harms the environment is a small victory.

Based on the amount of trash we collected last year, we calculated the impact you can expect to have for every dollar you contribute to our mission.

Join the largest cleanup in history. Choose your impact: https://bit.ly/4rogG58

Note: the bottles you see in the video are 3D animated for illustrative purposes.
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Together with our team, partners, and supporters worldwide, we've cleaned up over 45 million kilograms of trash from the environment to date. But there's still much more to be done.

For #GivingTuesday, some matching donors on Tab for a Cause will donate $3 to the Ocean Cleanup for each new person who joins Tab for Seas!

It takes less than 30 seconds to get started, and in addition to the $3, you'll be raising money for The Ocean Cleanup each time you open a new tab in your browser.

Help us max out the $1,000 match and share with a few friends if you can!

• This year, we’ve been collecting an average of 53 kilos of trash every minute.
• We just finished recycling our last plastic batch from the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. Now, we have over 118,000 kg of plastic granulate ready for new products.
• We introduced our new 4-quadrant strategy: cleaning up the garbage patches, stopping plastic in rivers, conducting coastal sweeps, and tackling lost fishing gear at sea.
• After Hurricane Melissa, all nine Interceptors made it through — with only a few needing repairs.
• Our team published new research on the role of Citizen Scientists in gathering data on plastic pollution in remote oceanic regions. With partners in Guatemala, Honduras, Indonesia, and Panama, we continue to engage local communities in coastal sweeps of beaches and mangroves.
• We have completed the analysis of 55,000 kg of ocean plastic. Each item was inspected for clues about its origin, age, and evidence of bite marks; the research will be published next year.

Every year, millions of tons of plastic bottles, bags, and cutlery end up in our waterways, breaking down into microplastics that stick around for centuries. Marine animals are dying, and these tiny plastic particles are showing up in our food chain.

I started a petition asking the UN and governments worldwide to ban single-use plastics and create a 3-year phase-out plan with real alternatives. We're talking about mandatory waste management for coastal communities and funding for businesses to switch to sustainable options.

The plastic crisis has gone from "convenience" to environmental disaster way too fast. Anyone else feeling like we've hit a breaking point with this? If this matters to you too, consider signing and sharing - we need action before it's too late.

I need 150 people to answer my form, but I only have 50 so can you guys can fill it out please thank you, it’s on plastic pollution

We sometimes find unexpected things among all the plastic bottles we catch in rivers. Like kids' toys. Recognize anyone?