In 2018, GoPro for a Cause championed The Ocean Cleanup, a non-profit organization with the objective of ridding the world's oceans of plastic. GoPro was there for the launch of The Ocean Cleanup's first ocean cleanup system, which was deployed from San Francisco Bay on a bold mission to clean up the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. As of June 3, 2022, The Ocean Cleanup has removed more than 1.2M kg of trash from oceans and rivers worldwide.
And there's much more work to be done. The Ocean Cleanup aims to tackle 1,000 of the world's most polluting rivers in order to reduce the flow of plastic into the ocean.
The latest project is in Guatemala's Rio Motagua basin, where an unnatural phenomenon occurs during each year's rainy season. A trash tsunami propels enormous quantities of plastic into tributaries and rivers, and eventually into the Caribbean Sea. That's up to 20M kg of plastic flowing into the Caribbean Sea-every year.
The situation on the Rio Motagua calls for innovative ideas and a specific solution for a specific problem. The Ocean Cleanup is working with local authorities in the region to improve waste management and to stop the trash tsunami with a new system: the Interceptor Trashfence, which they have named Interceptor 006. On May 26, 2022, the Trashfence was given its first real-world test during the first flash flood of the rainy season.
The Ocean Cleanup crew members Florent Beauverd (Head of Creative and Documentary Productions) and Dan van der Kooy (Executive Producer of Documentary Content) take us behind the scenes to tell us more about this catastrophic yearly event, and what they're doing to stop the flow of plastic into the sea.
GoPro: Tell us about the trash tsunami. What causes it?
The Ocean Cleanup: The Rio Motagua is the largest river in Guatemala, stretching from the highlands in the west down to the Caribbean Sea in the east. What makes the Rio Motagua situation unique is that an urban landfill sits literally on top of one of its tributaries, the Rio Las Vacas. Like many other rivers in the region, the Rio Motagua also suffers from unlicensed waste dumping.
During the rainy season, these factors lead to exceptionally heavy flows of trash-a trash tsunami-flowing into the river every year, adding to the plastic pollution problem in the Caribbean Sea. We estimate that more than 20M kg of plastic flows through the Rio Motagua basin on an annual basis. This amounts to roughly 2% of the world's overall plastic emissions to the oceans.
What is the Interceptor Trashfence?
The Interceptor Trashfence is an experimental system developed to address the specific nature of the pollution problem in the Rio Las Vacas. Its a custom-engineered steel screen measuring a massive 50 meters wide, 8 meters tall and spanning the entire river gorge developed over several years with technical partners and local authorities. In May 2022, we began our first trial of the Interceptor Trashfence on the Rio Las Vacas tributary in the Rio Motagua Basin.
The Interceptor Trashfence faced its first trash tsunami on May 26. Initially the fence held back the torrent of plastic, but ultimately gave way under the heavy force of so much trash. However, we learned a huge amount from this first trial, and we always knew this would be an experimental process. We're going to optimize the design and deployment to improve the system and prevent these trash tsunamis reaching the oceans. For example, we're considering raising the height of the fence and potentially installing more than one Interceptor Trashfence system on the Rio Las Vacas.
View this post on Instagram
A post shared by The Ocean Cleanup (@theoceancleanup)
--
Why did you choose GoPro?
For this specific project in Guatemala, we needed to find a way to capture on video an extremely sudden (and unpredictable) flash flood that generates a trash tsunami. Although this location is particularly difficult to get to, we needed to record high-quality footage to show the urgency of this phenomenon to the world, and how we are trying to tackle it. We relied on GoPros for this project for three reasons: simplicity of use, high quality of footage and reliability in all weather conditions.
We've been using GoPros for a wide variety of applications over the years, from getting impossible creative shots allowing us to visualize and share our work in more compelling ways to using GoPros as a scientific tool for gathering data. GoPro cameras have become part of our toolkit for understanding the problem of plastic pollution and visualizing how we solve it.
What's next for The Ocean Cleanup?
To rid the oceans of plastic, we need to clean up what is already out there and stop new plastic from entering the ocean-we need to close the tap. Working together with government leaders, individuals and private corporations, our goal is to tackle the 1,000 most polluting rivers all over the world.
More trash tsunamis will rush through the Rio Motagua throughout the rainy season. We're working with local authorities in the region to improve waste management and we will continue to improve our Interceptor Trashfence system to stop the flow of plastic to the Caribbean Sea.
How can the GoPro Community help The Ocean Cleanup tackle this issue?
Supporters are welcome to learn about our Interceptor Trashfence project in Guatemala by reading this update. You can also track our worldwide impact in real time. And you can donate to The Ocean Cleanup here.
You can learn more about getting involved with GoPro for a Cause here.
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
06/09/2026
June 9 2026, 23:00 (PDT) Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA Worl...
04/08/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
06/07/2026
Long-developed relationships and informal access, three production models, and c...
06/07/2026
The deal follows Lumine's recent acquisition of Synamedia's video-networ...
06/07/2026
This former SportsCenter producer is shaping local-team studio coverage to surro...
06/07/2026
IMS Productions and FOX Sports deployed more than 100 cameras, 32 onboard feeds,...
06/07/2026
Lumine Group Inc. has announced the completion of its acquisition of the Video Network Business from Synamedia. The business will operate as a standalone compan...
06/07/2026
NASCAR has announced a content and commercial partnership with Motorsport Network, a motorsports and automotive media platform, to distribute NASCAR original co...
06/07/2026
Versant Media Group has announced a definitive agreement to acquire Full Swing, a sports technology company, from Bruin Capital and a group of minority investor...
06/07/2026
DAZN has announced global broadcast rights to 3ICE, a professional hockey format featuring three skaters and a goalkeeper per side, with no power plays or offsi...
06/07/2026
Bundle gains 100 new synths & more
Synth Anthology 5 the largest and most feature-packed edition of UVI's hardware synth emulation bundle, bringing toge...
06/07/2026
Available now via free firmware update
MOTU have just announced that three of their popular audio interfaces now boast official Milan Certification. The 16A...
06/07/2026
Rohde & Schwarz completes Hunter Preliminary Design Review for the Integrated Co...
06/07/2026
The R&S IMAGER from Rohde & Schwarz uses millimeter wave imaging to inspect the ...
06/07/2026
The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF), an agency of the Department of Sp...
06/07/2026
Digital Domain Appoints Industry Veteran Patrick Davenport as Executive Vice Pre...
06/07/2026
Gravity Media USA appoints Brittney Boston as Head of Business Development
Brie Clayton July 6, 2026
0 Comments
The strategic new appointment supports...
06/07/2026
Remote Editing Without Cloud Storage in Resolve
Michael Cioni July 6, 2026
0 Comments
This is a step-by-step guide that demonstrates how to setup your...
06/07/2026
Automatic Caption Translation in Adobe Premiere Pro
Colin Smith July 6, 2026
0 Comments
Here I showcase the innovative automatic caption translation f...
06/07/2026
Flavor's First Ever Managing Director Neal Cohen Retires; Longstanding Execu...
06/07/2026
How Adam Rosenwach Pivoted from Music to Medtech Without Missing a Beat What do the rehearsal room and the boardroom have in common? More than you might think...
06/07/2026
Zhongyi Optics unveils the Dreamy Zone T1 FF Cine Lens Series on Indiegogo with ...
06/07/2026
Techtel debuts insyght: making ST 2110 media discovery easy
intellisphereinsyght2026
6 July Written By Suzanne Costello
Sydney, Australia - 06 July 2026 T...
06/07/2026
Monday 6 July 2026
Sky agrees to acquire ITV Media & Entertainment, creating a ...
06/07/2026
Fresh from his World Cup heroics with Cabo Verde, Roberto Pico' Lopes will join the RT panel for Argentina v Egypt tomorrow and for the England v Norway q...
06/07/2026
Nations have long invested in domestic infrastructure to advance their economies, protect and use their data, and take advantage of technology opportunities in ...
06/07/2026
Every year, the International Conference on Machine Learning (ICML) reveals where thousands of AI researchers have decided to put their work.
This year's ...
06/07/2026
A death can be unsuspicious, but it has to be explained
What happened to Ke...
05/07/2026
We've gone to another level of integrating the graphics into the set architecture' - Zac Fields, SVP, Graphic Technology and Integration, FOX Sports...
05/07/2026
Browser-based and desktop apps available
Digital Sunset Studios have been busy working on an interesting project: a free software tool that provides compute...
04/07/2026
When Canada qualified for the FIFA World Cup 2026, OneSoccer knew this wasn'...
04/07/2026
Celebrates company's 80th anniversary
Rhodes have recently revealed that they will be producing a limited run of electric pianos in celebration of their...
04/07/2026
Blackmagic Design Cameras Empower Youth Broadcasting Program
Brie Clayton July 3, 2026
0 Comments
Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 6K Pro and Blackmagi...
04/07/2026
iZotope Joins Boris FX
Boris Yamnitsky July 3, 2026
0 Comments
iZotope, the team behind RX and Ozone, is joining Boris FX. A letter from founder Boris...
04/07/2026
April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...
03/07/2026
New bundle & three Single Packs
Continuing to expand their already sizeable orchestral collection, VSL's latest release introduces three new Single Pack...
03/07/2026
Venue installs new ATC-equipped control room
LSO St Luke's, a unique music venue that also serves as the home of the London Symphony Orchestra, have rec...
03/07/2026
Caden Pearson appointed new Commissioning Editor for NITV
3 July, 2026
Media releases
National Indigenous Television (NITV) has strengthened its commitment...
03/07/2026
1 February 2023
SHARE Facebook Twitter Linkedin Email
Munich, Germany, 1st February 2023: Cinegy GmbH, the premier provider of software technology for digit...
03/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
03/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
03/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
03/07/2026
Death Star
Andy Marken July 2, 2026
0 Comments
Look, I can't get involved. I've got work to do. It's not that I like the Empire; I hate i...
03/07/2026
Berklee's New Visual Identity: Honoring Our History, Building for What's...
03/07/2026
Scripps Research scientists awarded $2M to advance global disease surveillance Two Gates Foundation grants will expand wastewater surveillance and AI-driven dis...
03/07/2026
Joan Pulupa joins Scripps Research faculty to study the organization of DNA in brain cells and its links to neurodegeneration Using smell-sensing neurons and ad...
02/07/2026
Entering her senior year, this hometown girl is paving a career in live sports production gaining experience in replay and audio and as a TD
In the live-sports...
02/07/2026
In-venue and creative video staffers at the professional and collegiate level ha...
In 2018, GoPro for a Cause championed The Ocean Cleanup, a non-profit organization with the objective of ridding the world's oceans of plastic. GoPro was there for the launch of The Ocean Cleanup's first ocean cleanup system, which was deployed from San Francisco Bay on a bold mission to clean up the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. As of June 3, 2022, The Ocean Cleanup has removed more than 1.2M kg of trash from oceans and rivers worldwide.
