After racing a yacht from London to Rio de Janeiro, adventurer Dhruv Boruah learned that another team taking part in that same race had come across two turtles tangled in plastic in the middle the Atlantic Ocean. Thinking about all the other victims of plastic pollution in our oceans, Boruah was compelled to act.

So, back home in London, he pieced together a bamboo bicycle, put yellow floats on either side, and added a rudder and a pedal-powered propeller to the front. Then, with a fishing net hooked on either side, he began cycling on the city’s rivers and canals collecting plastic waste.