At age 18 Boyan Slat left university to fight ocean plastic pollution by founding a nonprofit that has removed thousands of tons of debris. His journey began in 2011 during a scuba trip in Greece when he saw more plastic bags than fish. After presenting a passive cleanup concept at a tedx talk and launching a viral crowdfunded campaign that raised over 2 million from 38,000 donors in 160 countries, his team developed systems to capture plastic from oceans and rivers. By 2024 they removed over 19