Boyan Slat is an entrepreneur from the Netherlands. His non-profit organization, The Ocean Cleanup, has designed giant traps that float on the surface of the ocean collecting plastic and other debris from the world’s five great ocean “garbage patches.” These are areas where ocean currents funnel plastics and other trash.
This video has more on Slat’s system:
Sound too good to be true? Doubts about the project range from the concern that the system will not be durable enough to survive long-term exposure to ocean currents and storms, or that the traps may attract marine wildlife that will then consume the trapped plastic. You can read more about the project, and the doubts surrounding it, in this August 2017 Soundings article.
