Internship - Ocean Plastic Recycling

MISSION TO METRICS

The mission of The Ocean Cleanup is to develop and scale technologies to rid the world's oceans of plastic. The Catch Management team's goal is to give the ocean plastic extracted from the ocean a new life to maximize recycling, generate funds for our operations, and create awareness for our mission. The first step in our process is to turn garbage into something useful. Some ocean plastic has been floating in the ocean for decades, making recycling even more difficult.

"Recycling ocean plastic from the Great Pacific Garbage Patch is not an easy job. We are looking for an intern who combines skills and knowledge about plastics and processing with creative thinking and perseverance. This will help us turn the pollution of yesterday into the cleanup of tomorrow.", Stella van den Berg, Catch Management Director

THE ASSIGNMENT

The Ocean Cleanup is currently harvesting plastic in the Pacific Ocean with System 002. While we aim to mechanically recycle as much as possible, this material still needs to be analyzed and tested as some will be unsuited for mechanical recycling. We have identified possible alternative ways of processing, but suitability needs to be proven by testing.

As an intern in the Catch Management team, you will:

Support the recycling manager with execution of the recycling plan

• Coordinate with recyclers
• Be on-site as contact person
• Support with documentation for the Chain of Custody
• Keep track of the material inventory

Coordinate testing for the mechanically recycled fractions:

• Review test list
• Contact external parties for testing
• Interpret the results
• Support the Product Manager with data about the material

Work on a solution for the mechanical recycling rejects:

• Perform a desk study on the pre-treatment of the rejected plastic for alternative processing methods
• Execute tests with alternative processing methods
• Contact third parties
• Provide representative samples and join tests

Support the team with day-to-day activities, like (desk) research and shipping of material

PROFESSIONAL QUALIFICATIONS

• You are a Bachelor or Master student in Chemical Engineering, Environmental Engineering, or Environmental Science
• You are interested in a practical internship that will give you hands-on experience with waste management and recycling
• An internship is a requirement for your studies, and you can provide a letter from your university to support this

PERSONAL QUALIFICATIONS

• You are comfortable with a high level of autonomy
• You like hands-on tasks and getting your hands dirty
• Strong command of English, verbal and written
• Intrinsic motivation to work on our ambitious and meaningful goal

Please mention your potential start date and preferred duration in your application

For this assignment, you will work for 4 to 6 months with our team, based in Rotterdam, the Netherlands.

STARTING FROM:

ASAP

WORK PERMIT NEEDED:

European Union