North Pacific Ocean| Marine and coastal ecosystem services | Status: Completed
The Ocean Cleanup: Estimating the Return on Investment of Plastic Removal in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch
Plastic pollution of marine and coastal ecosystems has been increasingly recognized as having a negative impact on the wellbeing and livelihoods of humans and communities all around the world via the loss of ecosystem services. The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is a plastic pollution hotspot located in the Northern Pacific Ocean between California and Hawaii.
The Ocean Cleanup, a Dutch non-profit founded by Boyan Slat in 2013, develops technology to remove plastic pollution from oceans and rivers. Its ocean system, a floating barrier towed by ships, targets marine debris in gyres, aiming to clear 50% of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch within five years from deployment. As of February 2025, the organisation has removed over 21 million kg of trash.
As part of the project, we estimate the baseline scenario of unpolluted marine systems and their provisioning of ecosystem services. Then, we aim at calculating the negative impacts of plastic pollution on ecosystem services values as well as the benefits of plastic removal done by the Ocean Cleanup. Finally, we estimate the effect of the removal of plastic on the return on investment.
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Involved user groups and ESVD applications
In this project we aim to calculate the effect of removal of plastic on the return of investment of the organisation The Ocean Cleanup. We are targeting the following user group through the ESVD application:
Non-Profit Organisations
The ESVD can support nonprofit organizations by helping them calculate their return on investment and identify key public and private stakeholders involved in ecosystem service valuation. By making valuation data more accessible and practical, the database enables organizations to assess the economic and environmental impact of their initiatives.
Cost-Benefit Analysis
The ESVD plays a crucial role in conducting Cost-Benefit Analysis, as in the case of the Ocean Cleanup project. Conventional CBA focuses on market values and neglects often externalities of ecosystem services. With the ESVD, these non-market benefits and externalities are taken into account.