Jeroen van Erp intercepts Dutch Design Award

Congratulations to Professor Jeroen van Erp! At the end of a very active Dutch Design Week in which he also participated as an expert commentator on the theme of Crisis!, Jeroen’s design agency, Fabrique, went on to win the best product category at the Dutch Design Awards, together with Ocean Cleanup - the not for profit set up by TU Delft’s alumnus Boyan Slat.

They won the award for their joint development of Interceptor, a system which works to stop the problem of plastic pollution in oceans at source – in other words, in rivers which are the source of 80 per cent of plastic pollution. The solar-powered catamaran moves slowly along rivers, employing a barrier which guides waste towards Interceptor’s mouth. Plastic pollution flows onto a conveyor belt and is sorted into storage containers which are brought to land for recycling when full.

Find out more about Interceptor here. And hear Jeroen and the Ocean Cleanup’s Matthias van Middendorp discuss their design at Dutch Design Week here (18 – 25 minutes).