How much plastic collection does my bottle fund?
For every Ocean Bottle sold, we commit to funding the collection 11.4368kg (25lbs) of plastic before it gets to the ocean — that's equivalent to about 1,000 small plastic water bottles!
What does "Ocean-bound" plastic mean?
Ocean-bound plastic is defined as mismanaged plastic waste (also known as MMPW) that ends up within 50 km of coastlines, and in rivers and waterways within towns, cities and rural areas. When seasonal rains arrive, or simply with enough time, this plastic gets flushed into the ocean, often because of a lack of recycling infrastructure. So far plastic collection and recycling hasn't kept up with the pace of the production of plastic products — this has led to a waste crisis. We've discovered that collecting plastic before it enters the ocean is much more efficient than collecting plastic once it's in the ocean or washed up on beaches. Ultimately, our goal is to provide long term durable waste management solutions, built for and by local communities.
How do you actualise the plastic collection?
We work with 3 Plastic Collection Partners on a global scale, in areas where plastic pollution is worst. We chose these partners after a long and thorough investigative process — you can find out more by visiting our Impact page.
What plastic do you collect?
We collect many types of ocean-bound plastic, not just plastic bottles. We often represent the amount of plastic we collect in a number of bottles, because we find it's the easiest way for people to visualise it. But actually, it's much better for beating the plastic crisis if we collect a wide variety of types - so that's exactly what we do.
That said, it's also important to note that not all plastic is valued equally, so sometimes the process of selling and distributing certain types of plastic takes longer. With partners like Plastics for Change and rePurpose we are able to fund collection of hard-to-recycle and non-recyclable plastics (such as films and sweet wrappers) — this is a true game changer. Hard-to-recycle plastics are either recycled in an open loop and used in new applications or they're sorted with non-recyclable plastic for co-processing, a recovery process utilising plastic to create energy.
Based on our partners' information, we estimate that to date, roughly 75% of the plastic we fund the collection off is mechanically recycled, and about 25% ends up being co-processed.
For more information on the plastic collection we do and why we do it, visit our impact page here.