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4Ocean

Every product purchased funds the removal of one pound of trash from the ocean and coastlines.

HISTORY

The story begins when Alex and Andrew take a surf trip to Bali Indonesia that would inevitably change their lives and the fate of the ocean. Devastated by the amount of plastic in the ocean, they set out to find out why no one was doing anything about it. One afternoon they came across an old fishing village where fishermen were literally pushing their boat through piles of plastic that had washed up on shore. The two surfers realized that the proliferation of plastic threatened both the ocean environment and the fishermen’s livelihood. Could the fishermen use their nets, they wondered, to pull the plastic from the ocean? This idea stuck with the 2 surfers and they knew it was time to hit the drawing board. After realizing that the demand for seafood was driving the fishermen to focus on fish instead of plastic, they knew they had to create something that could fund the desired cleanup efforts. This is how the 4ocean Bracelet was born.

Made from recycled materials, every bracelet purchased funds the removal of 1 pound of trash from the ocean and coastlines. In less than 2 years, 4ocean has removed 2,738,941 pounds of trash from the ocean and coastlines.

4ocean currently operates out of multiple countries and employs over 150 people worldwide.

THE PROBLEM

Up to 90% of ocean plastic pollution starts on land and enters the ocean through river mouths.
Overproduction of single-use plastics and the absence of recycling infrastructure in developing countries is creating a crisis.
Plastic accumulates on the ground where rain and floods wash it into rivers and canals that carry it to the ocean.

5 Ways Ocean Plastic Impacts the Planet

1. Contributes to climate change – Light causes plastic to emit greenhouse gases that warm the planet. As the planet gets hotter, plastics emit even more gas in a dangerous feedback loop.
2. Threatens global food security – Microplastics have been found in tap and bottled water, fish and mussel tissue, even beer. More research is needed to determine its human impact.
3. Undermines human health – In areas with no access to recycling facilities or waste management, entire communities live among their waste and suffer from devastating epidemics.
4. Kills wildlife – Sea animals are ingesting and getting tangled in ocean plastic at an alarming rate. Some species are being driven to extinction by plastic pollution.
5. Cripples local economies – Communities who rely on the ocean’s bounty for their livelihoods are finding it harder to find fish among the plastic and have few alternatives to earn a living.

THE SOLUTION

Build an economy that prevents plastic pollution by giving ocean plastic value.
4Ocean’s plastic recovery technology has been designed by engineers to recover plastic on a global scale.
It will proactively eliminate river mouths as a source of plastic pollution and can respond quickly to crisis situations.

THE 4 O.C.E.A.N PILLARS

• Optimizing Technology – They utilize the latest technology to prevent, intercept, and remove trash from the ocean and coastlines.
• Creating Jobs – They have full-time captains and crews that are cleaning the ocean and coastlines 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
• Education & Awareness – They strive to educate individuals, corporations, and governments on the impact that plastic has on the ocean. They host cleanups all over the world, both above and below the water, to raise awareness and change behavior.
• New Global Economies – By giving ocean plastic a value, they are creating a new economy for the removal of trash.

Donate to 4Ocean today here.