A young man and the sea

Boyan Slat wants to rid the world’s oceans of plastic rubbish. There was just one thing Boyan Slat really wanted to do while on holiday in Greece and that was to surf the waves. But he couldn’t help noticing more plastic bags swimming in the water than fish.

In his frustration, the Dutchman decided to rid the seas of rubbish and even gave up school for the effort. Now three years later, the 19-year-old has a concept that has experts convinced. His Ocean Clean Up project even has pessimists dreaming of a world in which the seas belong to the fish again. And surfers too, of course.

A Pacific free of plastic:

Floating barriers are installed in the five main ocean currents, effectively allowing the ocean to clean itself.