A conversation with the two Italians working for Ocean Cleanup, Boyan Slat's visionary yet hands-on organisation that removes plastic from the oceans.
Probably the largest and most forward-looking project ever put into action to clean plastic from the oceans is Ocean Cleanup, the product of the visionary mind and determination of Boyan Slat, a Dutch entrepreneur born in 1994, who has persevered in realising an ambitious goal with the desire to change the world and the belief in what's possible that is so typical of the young. In September, the first version of a scalable mechanism called System 001 was deployed to remove plastic from the ocean. The goal, estimating a fleet of 60 such systems, is to halve the Pacific trash vortex — an enormous soup of plastic accumulated in the Pacific Ocean — within five years. After the positive results obtained during tests at the end of September, a tugboat transported Ocean Cleanup to its destination, approximately 2,200 kilometres off the North American coast.
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Boyan didn't do it all alone. Within the multidisciplinary, multicultural team that today numbers more than 80 people, there are also two Italians: engineer Roberto Brambini and marine biologist Francesco Ferrari. The latter has pointed out that, just as Rome wasn't built in a day, Ocean Cleanup has undergone significant evolution. From an organisation made up largely of volunteers, it has grown thanks to the contribution of diverse professional expertise. But the spirit of optimism has not changed.
Especially at the beginning, in a startup with enormous ambitions such as Ocean Cleanup — where the idea generates many questions and few answers — doubt and optimism alternated like night and day, Ferrari recounts. "Every day brings a new challenge that you know you have to find a solution to. Sometimes the answer comes at 4 in the morning through a conversation with a colleague who has a different background, one that lets you think outside the box and approach the problem from another angle." He adds: "There have been ups and downs, but I never doubted that the system could be built. It's more that you think about how much energy and time will have to be spent to reach the goal." Until the crucial moment, the launch: "Then on 16 September, when we put the system in the water, that's when we understood that Ocean Cleanup had finally become reality."
The absence of any prior reference point made things more difficult: this project is based on such an innovative concept that there were no guidelines to follow. What certainly made everything take off, Brambini explains, was the growing awareness among the general public, governments and international organisations about plastic pollution in the seas, and the financial support that followed. "I'm glad, because if this growth has happened, it's partly thanks to The Ocean Cleanup," Brambini admits.
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The multidisciplinary team worked extensively — first with theoretical models, then with test systems in the laboratory and at sea — to create a system that would have the minimum possible impact on marine life and that would pose no hazard during floating, thanks to the design of a single continuous element that prevents marine fauna from becoming entangled, nor during the collection of waste, thanks to the presence of operators on site throughout the process.
Naturally, it is in practice that problems reveal themselves. Now that the system has been successfully deployed, attention turns to the future, and every aspect will be studied in depth so as to allow it to evolve in the best possible way. Ferrari explains that data will be gathered regarding the technical structure in order to improve its design, but the marine ecosystem and the impact that System 001 has on it will also be studied, with the aim of minimising that impact. For example, the accumulation of microplankton and the aggregation of marine fauna around the system are being recorded; in particular, visual and acoustic monitoring of the activity of specific classes of animals (mammals, sharks, turtles and seabirds) is being carried out. The presence of System 001 in such a remote location will also offer an opportunity to collect oceanographic data such as currents, winds and waves, and to deepen our understanding of the ocean.
At full operation, the system is designed to operate without personnel on site and to be monitored from the headquarters in Rotterdam, in the Netherlands, but the collection of debris will be carried out by operators who will reach the Pacific trash vortex by boat and return to shore fully loaded, so as to ensure that the process runs smoothly and that fauna is not put at risk. Among Ferrari's responsibilities, as a marine biologist, is precisely that of ensuring that staff are adequately equipped and trained to handle any animals that may become involved.
During the first few months, however, a vessel will remain on site to ensure greater safety for the system, gather as much information as possible and prevent unexpected situations. "On this ship there are twelve nationalities, all people united by the desire to have a positive impact on the environment," Brambini explains. It is precisely this cultural and professional richness that he believes has been crucial to the project's evolution in such a short time.
Given the enthusiasm, the success and the determination with which it has been pursued, the question arises naturally: could The Ocean Cleanup have been born in Italy as well? Beyond being the home country of founder Boyan Slat, the Netherlands is a country where there is generally a fertile environment that allows ideas to develop and take shape, Brambini explains.
The Netherlands has a strong culture of the sea and offshore work, and according to Ferrari this meant that even at the outset, when the organisation was still made up of volunteers and had little budget available, it was possible to find talent locally. "But the real growth happened when the organisation was able to access international resources and bring together old and new talent," he adds. He knows what he's talking about, having joined the organisation himself five years ago as a volunteer, and he is keen to make clear: "I like to think that I contribute to keeping alive the spirit of infinite optimism that The Ocean Cleanup has always had, and that remains a fundamental factor in allowing any dream to become reality."
