In this article, we discuss the 5 biggest ocean cleaning companies and startups. If you want to read our complete list, go directly to 12 Biggest Ocean Cleaning Companies and Startups.
5. AlphaMERS
AlphaMERS is an Indian organization that develops solutions to remove trash and pollution from waterways. AlphaMERS also provides oil spill response services. The company’s primary fence to catch trash from waterways is made of stainless steel mesh. The fence floats a couple of feet above the water and dips about 16 inches below. The Indian company is known for a floating barrier that has stopped over a million pounds of trash, weed and plastics from reaching the sea from the rivers. The barrier uses natural water currents and does not need a crew or boats.
It’s welcoming to see an Indian startup in the list as the country is facing a crisis when it comes to water management and water pollution. A large percentage of rivers, lakes and other water resources in the country are polluted with sewage and solid wastes due to poor management and lack of infrastructure. Reports also suggest that close to 80% of the water resources in India are polluted. Experts also believe a whopping 40% of people may not have a connection to a clean water source by 2030.
4. Ichthion
Ichthion is a UK-based company that is working on unique and innovative solutions for the ocean cleanup initiative. The company has three types of technology streams: Azure, Cobalt and Ultramarine. The basic job of these streams is to prevent plastics from entering the sensitive areas of oceans. For example, the Azure system is an enhanced barrier that prevents plastic waste from reaching marine environments. This system can collect up to 80 tonnes of plastic per day from any river. The Cobalt system is a self-cleaning system that utilizes the relative motion of its host infrastructure to extract plastic pollution marine environments. The Ultramarine systems combines the scale and efficiency of ram filter feeders with a secondary sorting stage to collect huge amounts of plastic waste and protect high marine collateral.
According to TechCrunch, the company has raised $2 million in funding. In 2020, the company announced the commencement of its Series A investment round. The company was seeking an investment of $9.4 million.
3. Clearwater Mills
Clearwater Mills is a small-scale startup that removes trash from waterways. The Maryland-based company’s website says that its Trash Interceptor removes 20 tons of trash per month from the mouth of the Jones Falls, stopping it from entering Baltimore’s Inner Harbor. According to a CNBC report, Clearwater Mills’ founder John Kellett got inspiration to design a trash removing wheel after years of seeing trash pouring into the Baltimore Harbor after big storms.
Clearwater Mills’ trash-catching wheels collect trash from rivers and waterways though a smart system designed by the company and its engineers.
In 2019, Yamaha entered a partnership with the company to design a device to remove plastics and other floating debris from coastal stormwater systems in coastal Georgia. A statement at the time said that the device would be land-based and electrically-powered.
Clearwater Mills’ primary trash-removing wheel is known as Mr. Trash Wheel, which has become a celebrity in the local community.
2. CleanHub
CleanHub is a German ocean cleanup startup that aims to prevent 50% of new ocean plastic by 2030. Unlike The Ocean Cleanup, which is removing plastic pollution from the oceans, CleanHub strives to prevent new plastic pollution from ending up in oceans. It has built a technology that helps its workers in plastic collection and recycling. The CleanHub website says that 80% of the waste that ends up in the ocean is non-recyclable. That’s why the company is trying to prevent plastic pollution from entering the oceans.
In the summer of 2021, CleanHub raised about €4 million in a seed round led by Lakestar and 468 Capital. Major investors and companies took part in the funding round, including Übermorgen Ventures, Pirate Impact Capital, and Angel Investors Andreas Brenner, Marc Stöckli, Charles Songhurst, Erik Hahnloser, and Friedrich Neuman.
1. The Ocean Cleanup
The Ocean Cleanup is perhaps the biggest and most notable entity in the ocean cleanup space. The Netherlands-based nonprofit aims to clean about 90% of floating ocean plastic pollution by 2040. In 2022, the company removed 2,000,000 kg of trash from oceans and rivers. The organization is led by Boyan Slat, 28, who is a Dutch inventor and entrepreneur. In May 2017, The Ocean Cleanup announced that it had raised a whopping $21.7 million in donations since last November. The company said at the time that among the notable donors included Marc and Lynne Benioff, the Julius Baer Foundation, Royal DSM, and Peter Thiel.
The Ocean Cleanup deploys computational modeling to predict the hotspots of garbage in oceans and creates artificial coastlines where the garbage is accumulated. The company says that its floating systems are designed to capture plastics ranging from those millimeters in size, up to large debris, including large fish nets.
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