Sam Bencheghib moved to Bali, Indonesia from France at age seven and grew up witnessing the island’s plastic pollution firsthand, an experience that shaped his environmental activism. In 2020, he co-founded Sungai Watch with his siblings Gary and Kelly, installing floating barriers in rivers to intercept plastic before it reaches the ocean; the organization has since removed millions of kilograms of waste. He has also run across the United States in shoes made from upcycled plastic to raise awareness of pollution, and was named to TIME’s 2025 TIME100 Creators list.