Boyan Slat is the founder and CEO of The Ocean Cleanup, a global nonprofit that develops and scales solutions to rid the world’s oceans of plastic. An early inventor, Boyan founded the organization at the age of 18 and was the youngest ever recipient of the UN’s Champion of the Earth in 2014. Since then, he has featured in Time Magazine (2024) and The Independent's (2025) Climate 100 Lists, as well as Forbes' 2025 Sustainability Leaders List. Boyan brings a strong technical background in aerospace engineering and has played a significant role in establishing The Ocean Cleanup’s comprehensive, data-driven strategy to turn the tide on plastic pollution. As of April 2026, the non-profit has collected over 52 million kilograms (114.6 million pounds) of trash from aquatic ecosystems around the world.