285K views · 1.9K reactions | "It was devastating and sickening":...

The Dutch-led effort to clean the Great Pacific Garbage Patch has moved far beyond its experimental beginnings. Early 600-meter systems proved that large-scale plastic capture was possible. Today, the operation is defined by System 03, a platform designed to work at an industrial scale that would have seemed unrealistic only a few years ago. Developed by The Ocean Cleanup, System 03 is a 2,200-meter U-shaped floating barrier. By the mid-2020s, the project reached a critical proof-of-scale phase,