The Ocean Cleanup is the most visionary project aimed at clearing plastic waste from water and its founder is a very young inventor, Boyan Slat. He is Dutch, from Delft, and this can’t be just a coincidence, especially since Boyan is not a Dutch name: his father is Croatian and still lives in Istria. So the land of his origins, the northern point of the Adriatic, and the land where Boyan grew up, in the north of Europe, have one thing in common.
When we imagine a place, there is always a dose of truth. For Holland it’s the low landscapes dotted with dams and mills that come to mind. But then we’ll actually find them there. Just like flying over Croatia which stretches along the entire Balkan coast, we discover that it truly is a land fringed by sea.
Boyan argues that solving global problems doesn’t mean amassing local participation, but rather thinking on a different scale. Knowing his history, however, we can’t help but believe that even his familiar surroundings – the Institute for Water Education which is located on Delft’s main street, and Croatia and Greece where he dived as a boy – inspired him to clean everyone’s waters, not just his own.