Excerpt:

Conventional methods of cleaning the ocean are prohibitively slow and costly. But a new venture launched from Alameda allows nature to do the legwork.

Ocean Cleanup is a nonprofit group founded in 2013 by Dutch inventor Boyan Slat, 18 years old at the time. The venture is backed by Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff and PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel, among others, and funded mainly with private contributions, including a crowdfunding campaign. The scientists’ concept is simple but ingenious.