Catching Up with The Ocean Cleanup

This month, our host, Dan van der Kooy, records the 50th episode of Catching Up in Kingston, Jamaica, sitting on a fishing boat with Jerome "Cliff" Clifford and Colin "Dean" Palmer. Cliff and Dean are two local fishermen from Seaview Gardens, a neighborhood along Sandy Gully in Kingston, Jamaica.

Their neighborhood is directly affected by the trash pouring out of the gully each day. Cliff and Dean share stories of what it was like ...

This month, we sit down with Tarkessh Mahendran, our Waste Manager in Malaysia, to discuss the vibe in our Kuala Lumpur regional office and the importance of having a team on the ground, physically located in Southeast Asia. Tarkessh speaks about cultural differences between working in Malaysia and Rotterdam, such as the subtler communication styles in Asia compared to more direct approaches in Europe.

He also gives an update on th...

This month's podcast is from the remote and windy shore of the Rio Motagua. Robert Leijgraaf, aka Bobby, Project Engineer at The Ocean Cleanup, sits with our host, Dan van der Kooy, in the fishing village of El Quetzalito, Guatemala.

We're about to deploy the second Interceptor Solution in Guatemala. Bobby talks about the need for another Interceptor Barricade at the end of the Rio Motagua and what we learned from the first...

Not everyone who dedicates their life to dirty oceans and rivers comes from somewhere close to a body of water. Matthias Egger, Head of Environmental and Social Affairs, hails from the Swiss mountains and dedicates his life to the science of making oceans and rivers cleaner for marine life and humans in the future.

He discusses how we help local communities by addressing global problems through a holistic but specific lens. W...

It’s ‘Bring Your Kids To Work Day’ at The Ocean Cleanup HQ!

Your host, Dan van der Kooy, has traveled the world braving all kinds of hazardous environments to bring you the stories of our mission. But is he ready for his toughest test yet?

We’re not just ridding the oceans of plastic for today: we’re doing it for the next generation, too - and they have some thoughts!

Here, children of crew members tell Dan how proud...

Not all lawyers stay in the office or the courtroom. Letícia Abreu Passos de Souza grew up seeing the damage caused by pollution in her native Brazil - and now she’s using the law to do something about it.

As Director of Legal and Public Affairs at The Ocean Cleanup, Letícia guides our crew through different laws and rules in countries around the world - as well as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. She tells Catching Up how und...

We're in Bangkok, Thailand, where Interceptor 019 has been deployed as our first step in cleaning the Chao Phraya - one of the world's busiest rivers.

Charlotte de Jong, Business Development Manager at The Ocean Cleanup, has spent years preparing for this moment, collaborating with dozens of partners, and facing the challenges of placing an Interceptor in a prime central location in one of the world's great cities...

How do we clean the oceans? With a little help from our friends, of course - and Ewan Topping, Senior Partnership Manager at The Ocean Cleanup, is the man who helps us find them. Hundreds of organizations collaborate with The Ocean Cleanup, and Ewan tells us the key to attracting the right support: identify a shared problem and find partners motivated to solve it.

But it's not all about big organizations - many of you, our list...

The Ocean Cleanup is heading back to the Great Pacific Garbage Patch with System 03, so Catching Up speaks to Senior Offshore Representative Grete Ernst ahead of her latest trip to the Pacific Ocean.

Grete has front-row seats for the largest cleanup in history and shares her excitement at heading out once more. But Grete has many tales to tell from her time offshore, and she reveals what life is really like with the same crew for w...

It’s not just about plastic - it’s about people, too.

Suleman Audu, Environmental Manager at The Ocean Cleanup, takes us from his schoolboy Environmental Club days back in Nigeria to his vital role in our mission: making sure our river deployments bring the right benefits for the people living alongside them.

Every river is unique - and so is every riverside community, particularly when the river is vital for local needs. Suleman...

It’s been a stellar year for The Ocean Cleanup. New deployments, global negotiations, and an incredible global catch total of over 8 million kg (almost 18 million lb!) of trash removed from oceans and rivers worldwide.

So as a special holiday gift, Catching Up is serving a selection of 2023 highlights from our chats with crew members (and special guests) this year - curated and presented by your always-festive host, Dan van der Koo...

Data is nothing without the brains to understand it correctly - and we have just the brain for the job. From plastic-infested riverbanks in the Caribbean to diplomatic meetings in Kenya, Renata Correia has spent four years crossing the world with The Ocean Cleanup, analyzing and enhancing the data we gather on plastic pollution. Renata takes us through her journey: from her horror at her first sight of the scale of plastic pollutio...

It all started with an idea on a napkin...and now #TeamSeas is celebrating 20 million lbs (9 million kilograms!) of trash removed around the world. Catching Up speaks to Matt Fitzgerald, co-founder of the #TeamSeas campaign, about why he, Mark Rober, and MrBeast decided to combine forces to clean oceans, rivers, and beaches worldwide - and how the true legacy of the campaign is the passion it inspires every day.

Matt tells us how #...

Flemming Sloth Andersen is a name that will forever be linked to our ocean cleaning operations. Flemming has spent over one year of his life at sea with The Ocean Cleanup, and here - directly from the Great Pacific Garbage Patch - he tells us the ups and the downs, from early prototype challenges to System 03’s unprecedented plastic extractions.

Flemming takes us through his remarkable career on land and at sea and gives insight in...

Rae Town, Kingston, Jamaica: an iconic location and the perfect place to catch up on The Ocean Cleanup's Jamaica project. With five Interceptors deployed in gullies around the city (and more on the way) one guest wasn't enough: Dan van der Kooy speaks to Alecia Beaufort, Operations Manager for Clean Harbours Jamaica, and Dominik Haertl, Business Development Manager at The Ocean Cleanup, about how this enormous project got s...

"Science has always been my passion.” Sarah-Jeanne Royer, our resident oceanographer and research scientist on plastic degradation, has a storied background. In this episode, she takes us from her childhood in Quebec to catching a wave and peaceful island life in Hawaii… with a stop along the way to study for her degree while in a bunker in war-torn Afghanistan.

Sarah tells a slightly worse-for-wear Dan van der Kooy how plasti...

Alongside the newly-deployed Interceptor 006 in Guatemala, CEO and Founder of The Ocean Cleanup, Boyan Slat, reflects on the four-year campaign to intercept tsunamis of trash in this one-of-a-kind river. From perseverance to partnerships, Boyan explains the vital ingredients for a successful launch and celebrates the 1m kilograms of trash already intercepted.

Boyan tells us more on a range of topics, from the importance of the neg...

After three years in the Dominican Republic, Operations Manager Erik Holmbom is preparing to return to HQ in Rotterdam. Catching Up speaks to Erik to find out what he's learned during his posting in the Caribbean, and how Interceptor 004 has overcome initial problems to become a valuable and appreciated presence for the community in Santo Domingo.

Erik describes how working at The Ocean Cleanup has rewired his brain to solve pr...