According to the Ocean Conservancy estimate, there are 200M tons of plastic already circulating in marine environments, with an estimated 11M tons entering the ocean every year.
In a bid to solve the plastic pollution in the ocean, Rotterdam-based The Ocean Cleanup has partnered with #TeamSeas, a fundraising campaign, created by Mark Rober and MrBeast, popular YouTube content creators. Rober has over 20M Youtube subscribers, whereas MrBeast (aka Jimmy Donaldson) has over 73M.
The #TeamSeas fundraising campaign kicked off on October 29th, 2021, and aims to raise $30M to remove 30M pounds of plastic and trash from our ocean, rivers, and beaches by January 1st, 2022.
If #TeamSeas reaches the fundraising goal of $30M, it will remove a lot of trash roughly equivalent to 85 football fields covered a foot deep, says the website.
The Ocean Cleanup: What do you need to know?
During his scuba diving stint in Greece, Boyan Slat (16) noticed more plastic bags than fish. At that point, he thought “Why can’t we just clean this up?” This quest led him to research the plastic pollution problem for a school project and develop an idea on how to clean it up.
In 2012, Boyan Slat presented his concept at a TEDx talk, and the video went viral. The momentum that followed enabled him to drop out of school and found The Ocean Cleanup in 2013.
The Ocean Cleanup develops technologies to extract, prevent, and intercept plastic pollution.
What happens to the funds?
According to the website, the donations made would be split between the two organisations – Ocean Conservancy and, The Ocean Cleanup.
Every dollar #TeamSeas raises toward the $30M will go to independently verified pounds of trash that have been removed from beaches, rivers, or the ocean.
“When you donate, the funds go directly to the two not-for-profit organizations, Ocean Conservancy and The Ocean Cleanup. They split the funds 50/50 and the money will be released when the trash is removed and verified: $1, one pound.”
At the time of writing this article, the site says 10,537,999 pounds of trash have been removed from the ocean.
What happens to the trash?
According to the website, trash like cans, glass, and plastic beverage bottles will be separated and recycled. In other cases, where it is impossible to reprocess, trash will go to a proper disposal site in accordance with local regulations and capacity.
The #TeamSeas organisers have enlisted thousands of content creators in 145 countries to promote the effort. Some of the known participants include LinusTechTips, MKBHD, The Infographics Show, AzzyLand, Hannah Stocking among others.
#TeamTrees
It’s also the second wave of the largest creator-led fundraising campaign to hit the internet. To reiterate, the duo launched #TeamTrees in 2019 with a goal of raising $20M to plant 20M trees.
The campaign ended successfully, raising over $23M and generating more than 1B video views. Even two years later, TeamTrees.org is still receiving donations and planting 2,600 trees every day, claims the website.
Check out the video explaining the campaign below: