For good reason, there is a lot to be critical of when it comes to the bottlers and the responsibility they take for the pollution their products create and the collection of their own waste. Mindaroo and many others have been campaigning for polluters and weathier countries to step up stopping plastic before it gets to the ocean and it seems that the young founder of The Ocean Cleanup, Boyan Slat has been able to do what no government or lobby group has. He's gotten at least one bottler to take responsibility for cleaning up some of the mess around here.
The Interceptor was unveiled in 2019 and is the first scalable solution to prevent plastic from entering the world’s oceans from rivers. It is 100% solar-powered, extracts trash autonomously, and is capable of operating in the majority of the world’s most polluting rivers. The Ocean Cleanup identified 15 rivers around the world that are responsible for delivering most of the plastic waste in our oceans.
According to The Great Ocean Cleanup, this is how the partnership with Coca Cola will work:
Over the next 18 months, The Ocean Cleanup, together with Coca-Cola, will tackle fifteen rivers by the end of 2022, with the two organizations working collaboratively towards their shared goal of eliminating waste.
Two Interceptors included in this partnership have already been installed by The Ocean Cleanup in Santo Domingo, the Dominican Republic and Can Tho, Vietnam. For these rivers, the partnership will help provide support in the development of waste management solutions for collected trash and the organizations plan to extend the footprint of the project across thirteen additional rivers.
The Ocean Cleanup brings demonstrated know-how, with the experience and proven expertise in plastic-collecting technologies, their deployment, the issue and science of plastic pollution, the data from their deployments and how to address it.
Coca-Cola will support The Ocean Cleanup through its global network, which includes operations in more than 200 countries and territories. It will provide support on the ground for the local community engagement needed to deploy new Interceptors, as well as in the subsequent processing of the collected plastic via waste management expertise in support of a circular economy.
The Ocean Cleanup and Coca-Cola will work together to secure the new partners and investment needed to continue to scale the enterprise through the roll-out of additional Interceptor solutions, as well as to secure licensing support and deploy River Monitoring System (RMS) cameras to conduct further analysis of river pollution.