Why TeamSeas Doesn't Work: Their Interceptors

It's time we talked about the TeamSeas partnership with the Ocean Cleanup and its interceptors. While on the surface they appear to be a fine idea, dig a little deeper and you find a story of scientific illiteracy, and a huge missed opportunity.

Huge thanks to Drs van Emmerik and Schutte for their help with this project, check out their research here:

References in this video:

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Some stock footage courtesy of Getty

This video essay offers some criticisms of the TeamSeas project and it's association with the Ocean Cleanup. Is TeamSeas going to make any difference? Is TeamSeas bad? What are the TeamSeas interceptors? Will the TeamSeas interceptorts work? The interceptors run by the Ocean Cleanup use new technology to stop plastic reaching the ocean, except they're not new technology and won't stop plastic reaching the ocean. They are a technologically and ecologically inappropriate solution to the problem of plastic waste and the TeamSeas campaign is a colossal missed opportunity to do some good.

Huge thanks to my supporters on Patreon: Conor Safbom, William Pettersson, Paul H and Linda L, InDefenseOfToucans, Savannah, Jimmy Lee, Simon Stelling, Gabriele Siino, Bjorn Bakker, Ieuan Williams, Candace H, Tom Malcolm, Marcus Bosshard, Shab Kumar, Brady Johnston, Liat Khitman, Jesper Norsted, Kent & Krista Halloran, Rapssack, Kevin O'Connor, Timo Kerremans, Ashley Wilkins, Michael Parmenter, Samuel Baumgartner, Dan Sherman, ST0RMW1NG 1, Adrian Sand, Morten Engsvang, Farsight101, K.L, poundedjam, fourthdwarf, Daan Sneep, Felix Freiberger, Chris Field, Robert Connell, ChemMentat, Kolbrandr, , Sebastain Graf, Dan Nelson, Shane O'Brien, Alex, Fujia Li, Will Tolley, Cody VanZandt, Jesper Koed, Jonathan Craske, Albrecht Striffler, Igor Francetic, Jack Troup, SexyCaveman , Sean Richards, Kedar , Omar Miranda, Alastair Fortune, bitreign33 , Mat Allen, Anne Smith, Rafaela Corrêa Pereira, Colin J. Brown, Princess Andromeda, Mach_D, Thusto , Andy Hartley, Lachlan Woods, Dan Hanvey, Simon Donkers, Kodzo , James Bridges, Liam , Andrea De Mezzo, Wendover Productions, Kendra Johnson.

[SimonClark]

To those commenting that the Ocean Cleanup does somewhat customise their solution to different rivers and are in fact making a (small) difference to plastic pollution (and not claiming to be _the_ solution): you're missing the point. At no point do I say the interceptors don't clean up floating plastic. They do what they're designed to do. The point of this video is that _better_ solutions are known, and further will actually accomplish the TeamSeas goal of significantly reducing ocean plastic pollution (with the nice benefit of also cleaning up rivers).
As Dr Schutte says: why settle for less than the best solution?

[Fireclaws]

This video is great, because the problems with the interceptor are even inherent in one of their videos, the one you were using clips of in this video where he plays basketball with the locals.. They go talk to the locals about why they dump stuff in the river. Turns out they don't have bins or any form of waste management, and basically dump stuff on the floor which then flows into the river when it rains. And then they proceed to do nothing about it, and go back to the interceptor.

[boomerix]

I'm all for science and innovation, but if a "low tech" solution is cheaper and more efficient (as well as proven) then I'd rather prefer using that instead of flashy new things.
The worst offenders are those who try to reinvent trains and just end up with shittier, but more sparkly trains.

[DerekSmit]

Like many others said, ocean cleanup isn't the solution, but it's definitely helps! The worst thing we can do, is do nothing while we argue about some perfect solution that will never be perfect.

[photonicpizza]

This isn’t related to the topic, but thank you so much for having such good subtitles. The colour coding for different speakers is especially helpful. I’m personally not hard of hearing, I just watch videos in loud environments sometimes, but I have friends who are, so having great and amazingly accessible videos to recommend them is always amazing. Thank you.

[Gigano]

Brutally honest and informative. A key feature I keep seeing is there is a lot of focus is on "solutions" that look cool, rather than being honest with ourselves and focus on what actually works.

[RS-uhrz]

When Ocean Cleanup was only working on cleaning up the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, they were criticized for ignoring river pollution. OC responded by aggressively pursuing their river Interceptor initiative - now criticized here, in turn. It's true the Interceptors don't address the greatest causes of pollution: 1) use of plastics in short-lived consumer and industrial goods, and 2) failure of nations - many poor and corrupt - to invest adequately in waste management facilities. Unfortunately, these largest causes of pollution are driven by considerations far beyond the reach of an organization like the OC.

[clariidfisherman]

We have i think 3 of the floaty conveyor things here in Malaysia on the Klang River. I have lived in the general area of the river pretty much my whole life and pass it quite frequently and honestly the thing seems to be doing its work. The river appears cleaner and the water looks nicer. It still smells like a road gutter, but it's a step in the right direction

[sxfglcc]

The interceptors are considered a "band aid" until the trash systems in those areas are improved, they weren't made as an end all solution and they explained that very much so in their videos.

[ItsCyclonic]

Keep in mind that The Interceptors are only half of what the Ocean Cleanup does. The other half right now is focusing on cleaning the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, and there has already been some good progress. However, it may have the same problems as the Interceptors as you addressed. But at the end of the day, we should still be grateful for both of these solutions because they are still better than nothing~

[constantinople]

I think this is a microcosm of the biggest problem surrounding how we deal with environmental issues, our inability to upset the status quo in any way. Essentially unchecked progress in technology has resulted in plastic waste everywhere, loss of habitats and climate change. Instead of approaches - informed by science - that could mitigate impact in the first place there is a desire for a new technical solution that will simply make the problem go away. Technology is not magic, Marvel is not real. We have had the knowledge and technology for DECADES for all energy production to be green but doing that transition would have funnelled power and wealth away from those who had it. We have the solutions for plastic waste, we're just incapable of sacrificing anything to make it happen, instead let's hope a magic boat will sort it out instead.

[fhisg]

Preventing *more* plastic and other waste entering our water ways is definitely the way to go. But...sooner rather than later we also need mechanisms to remove the plastic that is already out there. Ideally we'll want to do this before plastic decomposes into micro plastic as removing *that* is an even tougher nut to crack.

[MrShwaggins]

I've seen these interceptor style things working in rivers and even if it's only getting 40% of the plastic in the river, thats still a ton of plastic. They were literally swapping out dumpsters because they were getting filled up quickly. Is it a perfect solution? 100% not. But its still a good idea. Let these take on the easy pickin's surface plastics while getting the message out regarding polluting and then work on a new tech for submersed plastics. Who knows. Some kid seeing that will then start to pick up 5 pieces of trash a day.

[Ryukachoo]

A big problem with the alternative solutions you didn't really address....the counties responsible for a lot of the river based plastic waste don't have particularly strong environmental agencies that can push for customized solutions at the source of waste...it's very easy to say X should be done, but if large corps have effectively bought environmental regulatory bodies in other countries, nothing will actually happen
This argument also seems to indicate the interceptor is a completely finished system that will receive no updates over it's lifetime, and never improve in efficacy or price

[jonahdodd]

I respect the place you're arguing from, but saying that interceptors "don't work" is overly critical. While it may be more ecologically beneficial to prevent additional trash from entering river systems when compared to removing trash that is already there, *It is still valuable to take out the trash that is already there*. While select rivers may have subsurface plastics as the majority component, surface plastic is still the most prevalent in river systems according to current data, and interceptors effectively remove it. There is space for both waste management efforts to reduce waste entering rivers AND intercepts to take out plastic that is already there. This is a good initiative.

[stock]

The main point of those machines is to build hype over the fact someone cares enough to make a change. This in turn creates more funding for more ambitious projects. It's far from a perfect solution as the creator has stated, but it's a start.

[justusbondurant]

Personally I never took it that the interceptors were any type of ‘solution’ to plastic pollution, just a way to reduce plastic pollution, and they certainly do do that.
Now even such as 1% of plastic pollution is a lot of plastic for this worlds amount of plastic pollution, so while sure it might not sound like a lot, it still ends up being a pretty good amount of plastic.

[superskrub]

I agree, but those systemic solutions require governmental action across the whole world, TOC is out of their element here

[pokemon]

This really does feel like a view from study scientists. You can’t just say “it’s not the best solution so just do nothing”

[cfv]

Ocean cleanup went through a bunch of iterations and is planning for more, I feel it's kind of unfair to try and declare these guys useless when they haven't even gone through a whole iteration yet.