Day archives: July 26th, 2026

Why The Ocean Cleanup Hasn’t Solved the Plastic Pollution Crisis

In 2019 a nonprofit called The Ocean Cleanup conducted a major test of technology designed to remove plastic pollution from the water. It appeared to work, and the nonprofit released photos proclaiming its success. But some scientists noticed something else among the accumulated plastic in the Ocean Cleanup’s publicity photos. Dr. David Shiffman explains how the efforts of the Ocean Cleanup project actually resulted in very damaging catch and kill of floating marine life trapped in the plastic. Shiffman also discusses other potential solutions to ocean plastic pollution, and lessons learned.

Subjects: Climate Change, Environmental Law