Boyan Slat and the mayor of the island of Tsushima, off the coast of Japan, have signed the agreement to carry out the pilot project for the Ocean Cleanup Array — namely the first floating barrier capable of capturing plastic. The young man announces it directly from the project's social media page.

The simple yet ingenious idea belongs to twenty-year-old Boyan Slat, born in 1994, who thought of harnessing normal ocean currents to trap floating plastic using a structure with two floating arms, each 2 kilometres long — the longest system ever deployed at sea.

The structure will be tested for approximately two years, and the decision to become an open-air laboratory was taken precisely to reduce pollution on the island. Each resident produces more than one cubic metre of plastic per year.

"Taking to heart the problem of waste floating in the world's oceans is one of the greatest environmental challenges humanity faces today," the young Slat explained. "The first Cleanup Array will not only help clean up the waters and coastlines, but will be an essential step towards our goal of cleaning up the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. This installation will allow us to study the efficiency of the system and its durability over time."

Because Boyan's goal is to reach a 100-kilometre installation capable of capturing at least half of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, the enormous island of rubbish floating between Hawaii and California.

There is nothing to be done about it, and in all likelihood it will be our saving grace. It will be young people like Boyan — dreamers and determined — who will save humanity from disaster. All we need to do is trust them and give them the tools they need to improve upon where we have failed.