Boyan Slat

In 2011, Slat went scuba diving in Greece and found that the amount of plastic surpassed the number of fish in the area he explored. He made ocean plastic pollution the subject of a high school project examining why it was considered nearly impossible to clean up. He later came up with the idea of building a passive plastic catchment system, using circulating ocean currents to net plastic waste, which he presented at a TEDx talk in Delft in 2012.{{Cite web|url=https://www.theoceancleanup.com/milestones/how-it-all-began/|title=How it all began|website=The Ocean Cleanup |access-date=6 June 2017}}{{cite web |title=How the oceans can clean themselves: Boyan Slat at TEDxDelft|date=24 October 2014|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ROW9F-c0kIQ |website=YouTube |access-date=6 June 2017}}

Slat discontinued his aerospace engineering studies at TU Delft to devote his time to developing his idea. He founded The Ocean Cleanup in 2013, and shortly after, his TEDx talk went viral after being shared on several news sites. In 2017, Slat wrote in The Economist: "Technology is the most potent agent of change. It is an amplifier of our human capabilities ... Whereas other change-agents rely on reshuffling the existing building blocks of society, technological innovation creates entirely new ones, expanding our problem-solving tool-range."{{Cite news|url=http://www.theworldin.com/edition/2017/article/12652/sea-change|title=The Economist|last=Slat|first=Boyan|newspaper=The Economist}}

{{main|The Ocean Cleanup}}

In 2013 Slat founded the non-profit The Ocean Cleanup, of which he serves as the CEO. The group's mission is to develop advanced technologies to rid the world's oceans of plastic.{{Cite web|url=https://www.theoceancleanup.com/about/|title=About|website=The Ocean Cleanup |access-date=6 June 2017}} It raised US$2.2{{nbsp}}million through a crowd funding campaign with the help of 38,000 donors from 160 countries.{{Cite web|url=https://www.theoceancleanup.com/milestones/crowd-funding-campaign/|title=Crowd Funding Campaign|website=The Ocean Cleanup|access-date=6 June 2017}} In June 2014, the Ocean Cleanup published a 528-page feasibility study{{citation|url=https://www.theoceancleanup.com/fileadmin/media-archive/Documents/TOC_Feasibility_study_lowres_V2_0.pdf|title=How the oceans can clean themselves: a feasibility study|date=June 2014|first=Boyan|last=Slat|access-date=24 February 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180423170230/https://www.theoceancleanup.com/fileadmin/media-archive/Documents/TOC_Feasibility_study_lowres_V2_0.pdf

|archive-date=23 April 2018|url-status=dead}} This is version 2.0 of the study. It states (p. 9) that version 1.0 is available on request. about the project's potential. Some declared the concept unfeasible in a technical critique{{Cite web|url=https://www.deepseanews.com/2019/01/boondoggle-ocean-cleanup/|title=The Continued Boondoggle of the Ocean Cleanup|first=Craig|last=McClain|date=6 January 2019|website=DeepSeaNews|access-date=12 August 2021}}{{citation|url=http://www.deepseanews.com/2014/07/the-ocean-cleanup-part-2-technical-review-of-the-feasibility-study/|first1=Kim |last1=Martini |first2=Miriam |last2=Goldstein|title=The Ocean Cleanup, Part 2: Technical review of the feasibility study

|date=14 July 2014}}{{Cite news|last=Ben|first=Guarino|date=2019-01-17|title=Experts warned this floating garbage collector wouldn't work. The ocean proved them right.|newspaper=The Washington Post|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/science/2019/01/17/experts-warned-this-floating-garbage-collector-wouldnt-work-ocean-proved-them-right/}} of the feasibility study on the Deep Sea News website, which was cited by other publications, including Popular Science{{citation

|title=Does 'The Ocean Cleanup' Stand Up To Peer Review?|first= Emily |last=Gertz |date=16 July 2014|url=https://www.popsci.com/article/science/does-ocean-cleanup-stand-peer-review|publisher=Popular Science}} and The Guardian.{{citation|url=https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/mar/26/ocean-cleanup-project-environment-pollution-boyan-slat|title=Too good to be true? The Ocean Cleanup Project faces feasibility questions|date=26 March 2016|first=Lindsey |last=Kratochwill|website=The Guardian}}

Since the Ocean Cleanup started, the organization has raised tens of millions of dollars in donations from entrepreneurs in Europe and in Silicon Valley, including Marc Benioff, CEO of Salesforce.{{Cite web|url=https://www.cnbc.com/2017/04/20/thiel-benioff-backing-22-year-olds-dream-to-clean-up-worlds-oceans.html|title=Why Peter Thiel believes in this 22-year-old's dream to clean up the oceans|first=Susan |last=Caminiti |date=22 April 2017|website=CNBC|access-date=23 April 2017}}{{Cite news|url=https://www.theoceancleanup.com/press/press-releases-show/item/the-ocean-cleanup-raises-217-million-usd-in-donations-to-start-pacific-cleanup-trials-1/|title=The Ocean Cleanup Raises 21.7 Million USD in Donations to Start Pacific Cleanup Trials |work=The Ocean Cleanup|access-date=6 June 2017 |url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170602052855/https://www.theoceancleanup.com/press/press-releases-show/item/the-ocean-cleanup-raises-217-million-usd-in-donations-to-start-pacific-cleanup-trials-1/|archive-date=2 June 2017|df=dmy-all}}

The first and second systems, dubbed Systems 001 and 001/B respectively, encountered various technical failures. System 001 was unable to effectively retain plastic and suffered structural stress damage that caused an 18-meter section to break off at one point. However, in 2019, System 001/B, which was a redesign of System 001, successfully captured plastic. This first mission (which includes both systems) returned 60 bags of garbage.{{cite news |last1=Bendix |first1=Aria |title=A device invented by a 25-year-old is finally catching trash in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. It hauled 60 bags to shore to turn into new products. |url=https://www.businessinsider.com/ocean-cleanup-plastic-products-great-pacific-garbage-patch-2019-12 |access-date=24 December 2019 |date=12 December 2019}}

In July 2021, System 002, an updated version, gathered {{Convert|9,000|kg}} of trash.{{Cite web|last=Cohen|first=Li|date=2021-10-16|title=Nearly 20,000 pounds of trash removed from one of the biggest accumulations of ocean plastic in the world|url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trash-removed-from-great-pacific-garbage-patch/|url-status=live|access-date=2021-10-19|website=CBS News|language=en-US|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211016184713/https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trash-removed-from-great-pacific-garbage-patch/ |archive-date=16 October 2021 }}

file:Interceptor Original 007.jpg

At an unveiling of a new cleanup system dubbed The Interceptor,{{Citation|title=Boyan Slat unveils the Interceptor River Cleanup system {{!}} Cleaning Rivers {{!}} The Ocean Cleanup| date=27 October 2019 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KyZArQMFhQ4|language=en|access-date=2020-06-07}} Slat cited research from the company which showed that 1,000 of the world's most polluted rivers were responsible for roughly 80% of the world's plastic pollution. In an effort to "close the tap" and drastically reduce the amount of plastic entering the world's oceans, The Ocean Cleanup had devised a barge-like system that was completely solar powered and was aimed to be a scalable solution that could be deployed around the world's rivers. As of mid 2022, their interceptors have been deployed in Indonesia, Malaysia, the Dominican Republic, and Vietnam, and are prepared to be deployed in Thailand and Los Angeles, California.{{Cite web|url=https://theoceancleanup.com/dashboard/|title=The Ocean Cleanup Dashboard|website=www.theoceancleanup.com}}

• In November 2014, Slat was awarded the Champions of the Earth award of the United Nations Environment Programme.{{cite web|url=https://www.unep.org/championsofearth/laureates/2014/boyan-slat|title=Boyan Slat - Inspiration and action|series=2014 Laureates|publisher=United Nations Environment Programme|access-date=17 November 2014}}{{Cite web|title=UN Champions of the Earth 2014|url=https://www.unep.org/news-and-stories/press-release/un-top-environment-award-announces-2014-laureates|date=2014-11-19}}
• HM King Harald of Norway awarded Slat the Young Entrepreneur Award in 2015.{{Cite web|url=http://www.youngship.com/youngship-international/news/young-entrepreneur-award-2017/|title=Young Entrepreneur Award 2017|website=www.youngship.com|access-date=8 June 2017|archive-date=6 August 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170806220932/http://www.youngship.com/youngship-international/news/young-entrepreneur-award-2017/|url-status=dead}}
• Forbes included Slat in their 30 Under 30 list in 2016.{{Cite web|url=https://www.forbes.com/30-under-30-europe-2016/science-healthcare/|title=30 Under 30 2016 Europe: Science and Healthcare|work=Forbes|access-date=24 July 2017}}
• He was selected for a Thiel Fellowship, a program started in 2011 by venture capitalist and PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel. It gives $100,000 to entrepreneurs 22 years old and younger, who have left or postponed college to work on their start-up.
• In February 2017, Reader's Digest appointed Slat European of the Year,{{Cite news|url=http://www.readersdigest.ca/features/rdi/european-year-boyan-slatan-wants-clean-oceans/|title=European of the Year: Boyan Slat Wants to Clean Up the Oceans |date=31 January 2017|work=Reader's Digest|access-date=6 June 2017}} and the Dutch magazine Elsevier awarded him Nederlander van het Jaar 2017 (Dutchman of the Year 2017).{{Cite news|url=https://www.elsevierweekblad.nl/nederland/achtergrond/2017/12/dit-is-de-nederlander-van-het-jaar-2017-566170/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171207013236/https://www.elsevierweekblad.nl/nederland/achtergrond/2017/12/dit-is-de-nederlander-van-het-jaar-2017-566170/|url-status=dead|archive-date=7 December 2017|title=Dit is de Nederlander van het Jaar 2017 - Elsevierweekblad.nl|date=6 December 2017|work=Elsevierweekblad.nl|access-date=25 May 2018|language=nl-NL}}
• In 2018, Slat was awarded the Leonardo da Vinci International Art Award and Euronews award "European Entrepreneur of the Year".{{Cite news|url=http://www.euronews.com/2018/05/23/european-leadership-awards-all-you-need-to-know|title=European Leadership Awards: meet the winners|date=23 May 2018|work=euronews|access-date=25 May 2018}}
• In 2020, Slat was honored with the Future 50 Leaders honoree award by the Project Management Institute.{{Cite news|url=https://www.pmi.org/future-50/2020-honorees/boyan-slat|title=PMI Future 50|date=2020|work=PMI|access-date=7 Oct 2023}}

Born in the Netherlands, Slat is of Croatian descent through his father.{{Cite web |last=Speksnijder |first=Cor |date=2015-12-24 |title='In de geschiedenis zijn meer dingen wél gelukt dan niet' |url=https://www.volkskrant.nl/nieuws-achtergrond/in-de-geschiedenis-zijn-meer-dingen-wel-gelukt-dan-niet~bd64e492/ |access-date=2024-03-04 |work=de Volkskrant |language=nl}}

{{Reflist}}

{{Commons category|Boyan Slat}}

• {{Official website|https://theoceancleanup.com/boyan-slat/}}
• [http://tedxtalks.ted.com/video/How-the-oceans-can-clean-them-2 How the Oceans Can Clean Themselves] – Boyan Slat at TEDxDelft

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Slat, Boyan}}

Category:1994 births

Category:Living people

Category:21st-century Dutch inventors

Category:Dutch environmentalists

Category:Dutch people of Croatian descent

Category:Plastics and the environment

Category:Thiel fellows