I've been following this project since the start and am thrilled to see it come to the fruition it promised originally. A bit like the "reforesting the Sahara" project in my eyes, it's one of the big environmental wins that can be had today that seems to fit a slightly more "repair" approach than to change what we're currently doing en-masse (like changing power generation methods or propulsion technologies). I'm genuinely excited about it and really happy they're getting the traction they need - hopefully the investment follows.
I've seen some of their other solutions, such as placing collection technologies at the mouth of some of the most contributing rivers and collecting stuff before it hits the oceans too.
I for one wonder if quietly offering some of the oldest or most interesting plastics found in their collections back to their original manufacturers for a sizeable donation would be a strong business model. The Ocean Cleanup Project gains some funds, some plastics are removed, and the removed items can either be placed in the corporation's respective museums (if they're ballsy and want to own it), or for those genuinely minded to do better, put on display in a pedestal or glass cabinet somewhere near their exec teams and ESG functions. Anything not quietly purchased by the corporations could be turned in to an exhibition that could tour major cities (London, LA, NYC, Beijing, Sydney, etc) for a month at a time, and funds from ticket sales could be used to further the project? Each tour section could have a specially-curated regional section, such as China seeing brands that are local to the far East highlighted in promotional materials and curated at the entrance. *Really* ballsy companies could pay *and* leave their interesting pieces in charge of the exhibition to help people understand why lobbing stuff in the nearest river isn't a great call.
I know I was morbidly fascinated when recently I tackled our huge hedge and pulled out a 1977 special-edition Matey bottle (genuinely) so would be interested to see what they'd found *and which companies stuff was part of it*.
FWIW, another commenter asked about 2nd/3rd world and why it's an issue. There are myraid first-world-being-a-problem things so I don't want to seem high and mighty here - I know enough global issues stem from everywhere. Seems for my understanding there's a "someone else will sort this" food chain sort of mindset in some parts. Some are rich enough that they can throw waste wherever knowing that someone else will collect all the plastic to go weigh it in as their job. Similarly, first-world bin placement and sanitation efforts are usually stronger across the spectrum, whereas they're weaker in poorer areas where civic funds are harder to come by: placing and emptying bins isn't as much a priority when children are starving and money could be spent on that. I doubt we'd get the UK to stand a Japanese attitude, where there are no bins and you *will* take your rubbish to your home or workplace. How to tackle the civic change, I don't know, but until done, fostering beach-clean-up crews and placing river-mouth collection goes a long way to improve things.