Ocean Cleanup to tackle world's most Polluting Rivers

Ocean Cleanup to tackle world’s most Polluting Rivers

The non-profit company Ocean Cleanup, created to rid the oceans of plastic, is now preparing floating garbage trucks to clean polluted rivers.

The Ocean Cleanup, the Dutch non-profit developing advanced technologies to rid the oceans of plastic, and Konecranes, a world-leading group of Lifting Businesses™, announced a partnership to design, manufacture, and service The Ocean Cleanup’s Interceptor™, which is designed to extract plastic from rivers before entering the ocean.

This is an important step as the non-profit organization prepares to tackle the world’s 1000 most polluting rivers.

Deploying Interceptors on a large scale is necessary to rapidly address the urgent problem of ocean plastic pollution. The Ocean Cleanup is partnering with Konecranes because of their expertise and worldwide footprint. Laying the groundwork for global scaleup, Interceptors 005 and 006 are currently being manufactured simultaneously at Konecranes’ MHE-Demag facility in Klang, Malaysia and are expected to be completed in May 2021. Moving forward, Konecranes will handle Interceptor manufacturing, installation, and maintenance; local partners will oversee operations, and The Ocean Cleanup will continue to act as the technology and best practices provider as well as lead business development for upcoming Interceptor projects.

Founder and CEO of The Ocean Cleanup, Boyan Slat remarked on this new partnership by saying:

“At the end of a very challenging year, I am happy to see series production begin for the Interceptor. It is a necessary step for us to tackle the global flow of plastic pollution to our oceans at scale. I believe Konecranes is well-suited for the job and we look forward to seeing them build many more Interceptors in the coming years. I am thankful for their commitment to clean oceans.”