Can a Bracelet Craze Clean Our Oceans? 4ocean sells bracelets made with recycled glass bottles and post-consumer recycled plastic bottles to fund its ocean cleanup operations.
Engineering for Change explains our mission and also provides insight for just how much trash, more specifically plastic, is polluting our oceans.
Engineering for Change writes:
"4ocean has put an artistic spin on a straightforward solution to plastic pollution in the oceans. Their solution is simple: Beach and coastal water cleanups. Their innovation is in how they fund their work, selling bracelets and reusable bottles made with recycled plastic and glass.
4ocean aims to remove a half kilogram (1 pound) of plastic and other debris from the ocean for every bracelet and bottle they sell. The concept follows a simple principle: you buy the product, proceeds from your purchase help clean the ocean. To date the company has pulled 1 million pounds of trash from the ocean. To do its work 4ocean employs 160 people, including fishermen, captains and crew, in the United States, Haiti and Bali.
Anxiety has been rising over the clouds of plastic in the oceans even as we collectively dump the equivalent of one garbage truck full of plastic waste into the ocean every minute, according to a study by the World Economic Forum. There are 250,000 tons of plastic in the water now, and at the rate we’re adding it, there could be more plastic than fish by the year 2050 (by weight)."