Cultures Connection interpreted for our client Plastic Odyssey during the 2025 United Nations Ocean Conference in Nice.
Plastic Odyssey Entering a New Era
Tuesday June 10, a seminal panel took place at this year’s United Nations Ocean Conference (UNOC3). Plastic Odyssey, a French NGO fighting marine plastic pollution, took the stand to share their upcoming clean-up and recycling projects. Plastic Odyssey sail the world’s oceans, making stops in heavily polluted waters with their state of the art laboratory ship. Aboard this 40-meter vessel is a mobile recycling center and an area to conduct experiments. Scientists conduct these experiments on land in collaboration with local communities during stops. Since it’s maiden voyage in 2022, Plastic Odyssey has made 30 such stops across three continents. The organization’s dedicated team of explorers are finding new solutions to combat plastic waste and are de-polluting our world’s waters along the way.
Discussed during their panel at UNOC3, was Plastic Odyssey’s The Impossible Cleanup. The initiative’s first expedition took place early 2024, on Henderson Island in the Southern Pacific archipelago of Pitcairn. Henderson Island is the most densely polluted place on Earth, drowning in over 38 million pieces of plastic. Plastic Odyssey’s team freed the island of 9,322 kilograms of waste and recycled 2,310 kilograms of that waste into furniture.
Up next for The Impossible Cleanup, are the world’s marine World Heritage sites. In collaboration with UNESCO, Plastic Odyssey announced that they would be continuing their work in other fragile, polluted areas. During their UNOC3 presentation, Plastic Odyssey and UNESCO signed an official cooperation agreement. Present for the signing were Plastic Odyssey’s co-founders Alexandre Dechelotte and Simon Bernard, Director-General of UNESCO Audrey Azoulay, French Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs Jean-Noël Barrot, and two Cultures Connection interpreters.
Simultaneous Interpreting for UNOC
Accompanying our client Plastic Odyssey on their mission at UNOC3, were two French-English simultaneous interpreters. Generally, conferences like those that took place in Nice during UNOC are interpreted simultaneously. Simultaneous interpretation is when an interpreter translates a speaker in real-time, using technology like microphones, receivers, and sometimes sound booths. Unlike consecutive interpreting, simultaneous interpreters do not take notes and do not wait for the speaker to finish. While interpreting, professional simultaneous interpreters always work in pairs. An interpreter will work for approximately 20 minutes before trading off with their partner, so they don’t over exert their mental capabilities.
As has been noted, simultaneous interpreting requires technological assistance. Interpreters speak into microphones while the audience wear connected headsets. While interpreting for Plastic Odyssey, Cultures Connection provided our interpreters with these headsets to then distribute to English-speaking audience members. Cultures Connection can also supply you with sound booths and other interpreting technology for your multilingual event!
Our interpreters were honored to work with Plastic Odyssey, and we at Cultures Connection wish their team well on their future endeavors in making our world a safer place to live. Discover more about our Cultures Connection interpreting services and fill out our form for a free quote today.
