Ocean Cleanup array, an idea of Boyan Slat, consists of an anchored network of floating booms and processing platforms. These booms and platforms can be dispatched to the garbage patches around the world.
This cleanup array would act as a giant funnel spanning over an area of a particular radius. The angle of the booms would force plastic in the direction of the platforms, where it would be separated from plankton, filtered and stored for recycling.
In the recent times, many ocean cleanups foundations have come up. Some of these are The Ocean Cleanup Foundation, Ocean Cleanup Array, Boyan Slat, pacific garbage patch, garbage patch, plastic fibers, plastic foodchain, plastic recycling, TED, Gyres etc.
The history of the Boyan’s idea dates back to his school times. He launched a project that analyzed the size and amount of plastic particles in the ocean’s garbage patches. He also presented a paper in this regard that went on to win several prizes, including Best Technical Design 2012 at the Delft University of Technology.

Boyan Slat kept on developing his idea and founded The Ocean Cleanup Foundation few years ago. The Ocean Cleanup Foundation is a non-profit organization responsible for the development of his proposed technologies. His solution could also save hundreds of thousands of aquatic animals annually, and reduce pollutants as well.
In an estimation, it has been guessed that the whole clean-up process would take about five years, and it could greatly increase awareness about the world’s plastic garbage patches.
On his site Slat says,
One of the problems with preventive work is that there isn’t any imagery of these ‘garbage patches’ because the debris is dispersed over millions of square kilometers. By placing our arrays, however, it will accumulate along the booms, making it suddenly possible to actually visualize the oceanic garbage patches. We need to stress the importance of recycling, and reducing our consumption of plastic packaging.
If you are interested in knowing about this project, here is a link to Boyan Slat’s Ocean Cleanup Array.