29 Oct 2019
ABNR Assists The Ocean Cleanup with Pioneering Plastic-Pollution Project in Indonesia

 

ABNR is honored to have provided pro bono (free) legal assistance to The Ocean Cleanup on the legal aspects of its river cleanup project in Jakarta, which was unveiled on 26 October 2019 and represents a revolutionary breakthrough for dealing with the plastic pollution problem in our oceans.

 

The project involves the installation of a new technology called the Interceptor^TM at the Cengkareng Drain to catch plastic garbage before it reaches the sea.

 

The Ocean Cleanup’s Interceptor^TM is a product that has been under development since 2015. Designed to extract plastic waste from rivers, thus preventing it from adding to the build-up in the oceans, one Interceptor^TM can extract up to 50,000 kg of trash per day, and has a storage capacity of 50 m3, meaning that it can operate even in the most polluted rivers in the world. At maximum efficiency, it can extract up to 100,000 kg per day.

 

After successful testing in Jakarta, The Ocean Cleanup now aims to tackle the 1,000 most polluting rivers worldwide that are responsible for about 80 percent of ocean plastic pollution.

 

Four Interceptors^TM have been installed to-date; two systems are already operational – the first in Jakarta and the second on the Klang River in Malaysia. A third system is to be installed in Can Tho in the Mekong Delta in Vietnam, while the fourth is destined to be deployed in Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic. In addition to these locations, Thailand has signed up to deploy an Interceptor^TM near Bangkok, and further agreements are nearing completion, including one in LA County in the United States.

 

ABNR Partner Kevin Sidharta and Foreign Counsel Gustaaf Reerink assisted The Ocean Cleanup with the Indonesian aspects of the project.

 

The Ocean Cleanup is a registered charity that is headquartered in Rotterdam, Netherlands. It develops advanced technologies to rid the world’s oceans of plastic. It is estimated that a full-scale deployment of its systems will clean up 50% of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch every five years. The Ocean Cleanup aims to halt 80 percent of plastic from the entering the oceans in five years’ time.

 

To view a YouTube video on the official launch of The Ocean Cleanup’s Interceptor^TM, click here [https://theoceancleanup.com/live/ ]

 

To visit The Ocean Cleanup’s website, click here [https://theoceancleanup.com ]

 

For further information on ABNR’s work with The Ocean Cleanup and our engagement with other charities and civil society organizations, please contact Kevin Sidharta (ksidharta@abnrlaw.com) and Gustaaf Reerink (greerink@abnrlaw.com).