Boyan Slat is not your typical 21-year-old.
At an age when most people are still trying to figure out what they're going to do with their lives, the Dutch innovator is the head of The Ocean Cleanup, a nonprofit that's raised millions of dollars to put into action a plan that Slat devised.
His goal is to help clean up the Pacific garbage gyre — an enormous area of the ocean where swirling currents cause plastic from around the world to converge in huge patches.
This plastic isn't just ugly. Animals like sea turtles, seals, and birds eat it, which poisons them. And as it breaks down into little particles called microplastics, the debris ends up in fish that often enter our own food supply.
Here's the story of why Slat thinks he has a plan that could clean up much of this floating trash, despite some serious questions from scientists.
Slat tells Tech Insider a diving trip he took when he was 16 years old inspired him to fight plastic in the ocean.
"I was diving in Greece, and I realized there were more plastic bags than fish, and I wondered why we couldn't clean it up," he says.
Back at school, Slat saw a presentation showing how currents take litter from all over the world and build it up in massive patches.
See the rest of the story at Business Insider