THE SEACLEANERS

We provide onshore and offshore solutions to protect the oceans from plastic pollution. Join us and be part of the change!

Founded in 2016 by the French-Swiss sailor and explorer Yvan Bourgnon, the NGO The SeaCleaners offers concrete solutions against plastic pollution, both at sea and on land, through corrective and preventive missions.

An Observer Member of the UN Environment Programme and supported by the Albert II of Monaco Foundation and the CCI France International network, The SeaCleaners has four missions:

- Environmental protection with the collection of floating waste and the collection of waste on land with its teams of volunteers;

- Education and pedagogy, with the development of awareness-raising actions for the impacted populations, the general public and decision-makers;

- Scientific research ;

- Promoting the transition to the circular economy.

The SeaCleaners is developing a pioneering solution for the collection and recovery of floating plastic waste: the Manta, an innovative vessel equipped with an on-board factory, which will be launched in 2024. This giant of the seas will be the first ocean-going vessel capable of collecting and treating floating ocean waste en masse before it breaks up and penetrates the marine ecosystem in the long term.

A real technological challenge, the Manta will be powered by a combination of several renewable energy technologies to minimise its carbon footprint.

Speech by Yannick Lerat, Oceanographer, Scientific Director of The SeaCleaners, at the Biomim'expo digital week in 2020

Speech by Yvan Bourgnon, sailor, adventurer, environmentalist; president and founder of The SeaCleaners, at Biomim'expo 2019

What is the issue of plastic pollution?

Any reflection on our future leads us to the ocean! This is where life originated, where the survival of humanity is at stake. It regulates the Earth's temperature, absorbs CO₂It is the most important source of oxygen in the world and provides half of the world's population with vital resources.

But today, the ocean is threatened by our excesses. Before our very eyes, it is warming up, becoming depopulated and becoming "plasticised". Every minute, 15 tonnes of plastic waste are dumped into the oceans, the equivalent of a garbage truck load... that's 10 to 12 million tonnes every year. If we do not react, by 2050 they will contain more plastic than fish.

This shows how urgent it is to act now!

At The SeaCleaners, we believe that only through coordinated action, and the joint efforts of all those involved, can the major issue of plastic pollution be addressed in a sustainable manner.

While waiting for the battles on land to bear fruit, we are convinced that fundraising at sea can create a virtuous circle: it can produce concrete, rapid and visible results, which in turn help to raise awareness and mobilise public authorities, companies, communities and citizens.

Our vision for the preservation of the oceans is global and planetary in scope. Its strength is measured in the long term: it consists of integrating economic, societal, human, educational and scientific perspectives in a dynamic of solidarity.

Our sponsors

The full list of forty+ supporting companies is available at our website

A flagship project: the Manta

A real technological challenge, the Manta will be powered by a combination of several renewable energy technologies to minimise its carbon footprint.

With its hybrid propulsion, the Manta will have the mobility to move quickly to river mouths and estuaries, where plastic waste is still concentrated by winds and currents and has not yet begun to break down or drift out to the 'plastic continents'.

It will also be able to intervene rapidly anywhere in the world, following a natural disaster (hurricane, tsunami, etc.) in areas of dense pollution, to collect floating macro-waste before it sinks to the bottom of the sea.

A waste-to-energy unit will be installed on board to convert the collected waste into electricity and will be complemented by recovery and treatment solutions. Indeed, some waste will be integrated into circular economy loops on land. Visits to these installations will be organised so that local political, industrial and economic players can discover these technological solutions and appropriate them in order to combat their own pollution problems.

To improve knowledge and strengthen pollution prevention, a scientific laboratory on board will allow the scientific team to geolocate, quantify and characterise waste during collection campaigns.