Boyan Slat

Boyan Slat (born July 27, 1994) is a Dutch inventor, entrepreneur, and environmentalist renowned for founding and leading The Ocean Cleanup , a non-profit organization dedicated to developing advanced technologies to remove plastic pollution from the world's oceans and rivers.

At the age of 16, while scuba diving in Greece , Slat was shocked to encounter more plastic waste than fish , prompting him to shift his focus from merely avoiding debris to actively cleaning it from marine environments. This experience led him to conceptualize passive cleanup systems that harness ocean currents and wind to collect floating plastic without harming marine life .

In 2013 , at age 18 and with just €300 in saved pocket money, Slat launched The Ocean Cleanup from his hometown of Delft , Netherlands , after delivering a TEDx talk on his ideas the previous year. A student of aerospace engineering at Delft University of Technology , he dropped out of his degree program to dedicate himself fully to the initiative, which has since grown into a global effort involving interdisciplinary teams of engineers and scientists.

Under Slat's leadership as CEO, The Ocean Cleanup has pioneered scalable solutions, including floating barriers for ocean gyres like the Great Pacific Garbage Patch and Interceptor devices for river s, with 20 deployments operating in nine countries as of May 2025. The organization's ambitious goal is to eliminate 90% of floating ocean plastic by 2040 through a combination of cleanup operations, river interception to prevent inflow, and advocacy for systemic plastic reduction.

Slat's innovations have earned him prestigious recognitions, including being named the youngest-ever United Nations Champion of the Earth in 2014 for his policy-influencing environmental efforts, as well as the digital category winner in the Design Museum's Designs of the Year awards in 2015. His work continues to drive international attention to ocean plastic pollution, emphasizing engineering solutions to one of the planet's most pressing ecological challenges.

Boyan Slat was born on July 27, 1994, in Delft , South Holland , Netherlands .

His parents separated during his early years, and he was raised by his mother, a Dutch-British relocation consultant who assists foreigners moving to the Netherlands . His father, a Croatian artist, resides in Poreč on the Adriatic coast.

Slat spent his early childhood in Delft, a historic university town known for its innovative atmosphere. From as young as age two, he showed a strong inventive streak, tinkering with projects like building treehouses and ziplines in his backyard, which highlighted his early creativity possibly nurtured by his father's artistic profession.

His multicultural heritage—blending Dutch, British, and Croatian influences—exposed him to diverse perspectives from a young age, shaping a broad worldview that emphasized problem-solving and global awareness. During his teenage years, this foundation began to intersect with emerging interests in oceanic environments.

At the age of 16, during a scuba diving vacation in Greece in 2011, Boyan Slat encountered a shocking abundance of plastic waste in the waters, observing more plastic bags than fish . This experience profoundly disappointed him, as his Scottish dive companion initially mistook the debris for jellyfish , remarking on the "thousand" he had seen. Slat's encounter highlighted the pervasive nature of plastic pollution in marine environments, transforming a recreational dive into a moment of environmental awakening.

This observation led Slat to question prevailing cleanup strategies, realizing that most efforts concentrated on manual removal from beaches rather than addressing the accumulation in open ocean gyres where the majority of plastic congregated. He noted the futility of beach cleanups, as plastic fragments continued to wash ashore from vast oceanic sources, perpetuating the cycle of pollution.