The first leg of the largest ocean clean-up in history kicked off this weekend from Honolulu.
“The Ocean Clean-up” began as an idea by 17-year-old Boyan Slat. His idea was simple… use the ocean’s current to clean out plastic debris. He came up with a catch system designed to be moored to the sea-bed. The floating design traps debris circulating in the great pacific gyre and collects it in a V-Shaped barrier for recycling. The stationary design uses minimal energy… and allows marine life to swim free of the debris.
This first trip, called “The Mega Expedition” will use 30 vessels to map more than one-million square-miles between Hawaii and the U.S. West Coast.
Boyan Slat is the founder and CEO of The Ocean Clean-up.
Now a 21 year old Slat hopes to have the completed system up and running by 2020.
More information on The Ocean Clean-Up
See his TED Talk: