The Ocean Cleanup is the most visionary project in recent years to take on ridding oceans of waste. Its incredibly young founder, Boyan Slat, is a Dutch advocate fighting against environmental degradation on a global scale. And his figures are clear: every week the amount of plastic flowing into oceans equals twice the volume of the Empire State Building.
Take a tour of the project’s website. Next to the title you will find the word Rivers. The latest data from The Ocean Cleanup research team is published here: 80% of those weekly dual Empire State Buildings-worth of plastic comes from just 1000 rivers on the planet: the true source of open water pollution. A new Interceptor has been invented and already put to use to try to shut off these pollution spigots.
One of Boyan Slat’s major innovations lies, so to speak, at the source of the problem which The Ocean Cleanup has decided to tackle using constant scientific research, the help of “citizen scientists” and specific studies published by dozens of young researchers. Boyan is combining every sustainable action with sustainable thinking. Or rather, he’s showing us that every thought – and not just for Sustainability – truly is an action.