The Problem

Plastic is an extremely delicate material and, once discarded, ocean plastic quickly becomes exposed to UV-rays, damaging the molecular structure of the material and rendering it brittle, unstable and seemingly unusable. Powerful ocean currents then transport this plastic waste piece by piece into giant oceanic trash piles, where they continue irradiating until, eventually, they break apart into smaller and smaller particles and sink into the water column.

As they move through the water column, Larger plastics end up wrapped around larger marine animals, whilst micro-plastics and plastic particles are inadvertently eaten by small, keystone organisms like plankton, before eventually being passed to larger organisms during feeding.

The Solution

Our partners at the University of Switzerland have developed a biomechanical method to repair the molecular structure of Plastics damaged by the ocean and the sun, affording this seemingly dead, yet abundant material a viable second life.

This is a truely remarkable modern innovation, allowing for the reconstitution of plastic base-materials that are virtually indiscernible from their harmful ‘virgin plastic’ counterparts.

Yarn

Thread material for polyester textile goods

Granules

Injection-moulding material for plastic hard goods

The Result

From here, we have developed a global supply chain to provide a sustainable solution to plastic pollution. This proprietary innovation has essentially created a chain of value where there was no chain of value before - so, working with partner organisations in local communities, creating jobs and paying fair wages in the process, ocean plastic is collected, sorted and processed into the base materials, from which our products are built.

Since 1950, close to half of all plastic has ended up in landfill or dumped in the wild.

Discarded fishing gear comprises only 20% of the plastic pollution in the ocean.

More than 80% of plastic polluting the oceans come from land-based sources.