It's easy to feel like the plastic crisis is insurmountable. With over 460 million metric tons of plastic produced each year — 11 million of which end up in our oceans — plastic pollution is everywhere.

Microplastics are being found in the soil that grows our food, in the animals we eat, in the air we breathe, and even in our bloodstreams. By 2050, the plastic in the ocean will likely outweigh the fish.

Despite the gravity of the problem, there are companies trying to address the issue, and one company is working on a solution that's as immense and multifaceted as the issue itself. Ichthion is a technology company whose focus is not on cleaning up plastic, but preventing it at its source.

"We started out focused on developing technologies to tackle plastic waste. Today, we are a company whose goal is to reduce plastic pollution in the environment using data, innovation, technology and science," Ichthion's CEO, Inty Gronneberg, told Sustainable Brands, which made the case that "rivers act as plastic conveyor belts, transporting up to 80 percent of ocean-bound plastic from inland cities and towns to coastal waters."

The first step in Ichthion's solution is an AI-powered software called Hyperion, which analyzes satellite and drone images to identify pollution hotspots and determine where to intervene. Once they determine the areas of highest impact, they deploy Azure, a river-based interception system that physically captures plastic waste using floating barriers and mechanical extraction.

They've also implemented behavioral intervention techniques designed to reduce single-use plastics, by offering free water stations for reusable bottles. And by collaborating with local waste-picker labor forces, they've been able to allow rural residents — many of whom often lack access to waste collection and recycling services — to dispose of plastic more responsibly.

Ichthion has already seen great successes in several of the most polluted river systems in the world, including Ecuador's San Pedro River and Guatemala's Motagua River. Part of what makes the work so complex, Gronneberg explained, is that no two situations are the same.

"[In San Pedro], we discovered that around 40 percent of the plastic pollution was coming from illegal industrial dumping, mainly from textile factories," Gronneberg said. "By sharing this data with the municipality, we were able to take targeted action. Once upstream factories were made aware and enforcement was in place, they had no choice but to stop dumping."

In another river, the main pollution source was farmers dumping fertilizer bottles; in another, a local landfill's broken sewage pipe had led to 300 kilometers of plastic clogging the river.

Another area of focus is Ecuador's Galapagos Islands, where contamination from plastics has led to what Sustainable Brands described as "a deterioration in economic and community wellbeing."

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"If we don't act now, we'll destroy one of the most important ecosystems on Earth," Gronneberg emphasized. "There is no silver bullet. Pollution sources are different everywhere. In some places, it's illegal dumping. In others, it's weak infrastructure. In others, it's cultural behavior. Each case needs its own strategy, and that's what we're building here at Ichthion."

Now, Ichthion is moving into additional areas of impact, including corporate, nonprofit, science, and policy partnerships. They even helped draft Ecuador's first circular economy and inclusive recycling law recently.

And with additional technologies in the works — including a microplastic-capturing membrane system for turbines and large ships — and plans to expand to several more countries and regions, their impact is only set to expand.

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