Every year, millions of pounds of trash get dumped into the Pacific Ocean, which together form large islands of waste known collectively as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.
The pollutants are too numerous to remove individually, but a few years ago the Dutch wunderkind Boyan Slat, who was only 21 at the time, started promoting the idea of using giant floating barriers to passively clean up the ocean using the natural movement of ocean currents.
The Ocean Cleanup Array. Pictured is the center of the V, including the collection station. Erwin Zwart / The Ocean Cleanup
