Ocean plastic isn’t only an eyesore, but they keep making the marine life suffer. There have been initiatives and companies that fight these type of waste. And these are more companies or brands which create products made from ocean plastic that you should know about.
1. Marine Debris Bakelite Project
This initiative brings ocean plastic waste onto your houses as high-quality designer tableware. The Marine Debris Bakelite Project (MDB) was initially launched as a way to dispose of collected ocean plastic but it turned to be a sustainable project that upcycles it.
If you’re wondering what Bakelite is, it’s an early form of plastic invented in the early 1900s. This project wants to make similar product that resembles Bakelite’s marbled aesthetic and density. But the quality won’t be like the ones made hundred years ago. MDB uses its own manufacturing process to create products of top quality.
MDB’s collection is available in pretty, modern colors. Some of the items was designed by a world-class artist like Jonathan Zawada. The range is basically exclusive, high-class tableware but it’s made from something that some people will usually walk away from. Absolutely worth your money.
2. Parley & Soma
Plastic bottles do get recycled, but it’s still not enough to make the environment, especially marine life, healthier again. Therefore, it’s best to bring our own bottles whenever we go outside so that we won’t have to buy bottled water (this is, if public drinking water is not available around you).
To make it more impactful, Parley & Soma created water bottles made from glass and upcycled ocean plastic. Specifically, the bottle itself is the BPA-free glass and it’s wrapped in an ocean plastic sleeve. The sleeve is made of 90% upcycled material, which is equal to two plastic bottles. The cap is made of natural bamboo and it’s leak proof.
3. Ocean Sole x Sea Star Beachwear
Ocean Sole is a Kenya-based marine charity and it usually collects over 45 tons of discarded flip flops from the country’s coast and turns them into art. But the charity organization has teamed up with Sea Star Beachwear as a way to support the cause and mission.
Now, you can buy Ocean’s Sole collection of sculptures alongside Sea Star Beachwear’s water friendly espadrille shoes online. The sculptures depict endangered marine animals and each piece is worth $45. The money will be donated back to Ocean Sole’s beach-cleaning initiative.
Read also: 10 Holiday Gifts for Your Eco-Conscious Loved Ones
4. Norton Point
Haiti’s canals and coastlines are also the victims of plastic disposal, and this Massachusetts-based eyewear brand transforms them into eco-friendly eyewear. For each pair of sunglasses sold, the brand promises to remove a pound of plastic from the ocean. Moreover, 5% of the net profits go to initiatives including global clean up, remediation, and education.
5. Bureo
Bureo is one of the real MVPs when it comes to making ocean plastic products. If you don’t know this brand yet, it makes a lot of products like skateboard and sunglasses using the aforementioned material. One of their new creation is Jenga Ocean.
There’s nothing different from your usual stacking game apart from the fact that the pieces are entirely made from recycled fishing nets and they’re 100% recyclabe. The nets are sourced from Bureo’s Net Positiva recycling program. Additionally, the blocks feature special artwork from surfer, designer, and artist Lake Buckley.
6. Adidas X Parley for the Oceans
Parley for the Oceans make a lot of ocean plastic products, including this joint initiative with Adidas. Both brands created a sustainable sportswear line using Parley’s yarn spun, which is an upcycled beach waste (processed before the waste reaches the ocean).
The products? Running shoes and workout wear for children, men, and women. What’s special about this collaborative line is that the designs feature the famed fashion house Stella McCartney. Adidas won’t stop here either. The company has pledged to use repurposed ocean plastic in all of its products by 2024.
Read also: 10 Brands to Dress Fashionably Without Damaging the Environment
7. The Tropics
Not only that this men’s swimwear brand makes great products using recycled materials called REPREVE fiber, it also hosts beach cleanups each month. The Miami-based brand doesn’t stop its efforts to prevent ocean pollution and the company keeps spreading sustainability awareness to beachgoers and marine life lovers. As the brand said, the products “are used to enjoy the ocean, not destroy it.”
8. Gyro Table
When you look at this table the first time, it’s so hard to notice which part of plastic is included in it because it looks like it’s made from granite, rare rocks, or marble even on closer inspection. The plastic is not just regular plastic as well. Brodie Neill, the designer, made this beautiful round table using plastic waste in the oceans.
“The problem of ocean plastic waste is not unique to Australia – this is a global issue, which has been accelerating over the past 50 years. We share responsibility and it’s time to rethink our relationships to plastic, the environment and waste,” said Neill.
Gyro table doesn’t look like it’s made from ocean plastic because of the specialized process to create it. Hopefully that kind of technology would be available for a wider use so that more ocean plastic gets recycled and more people can get this aesthetic plastic table.
9. Kevin Murphy’s Ocean Plastic Packaging
Petrol-based plastic items take up to 1000 years to break down. That means that every single plastic item from years and years ago is still out there somewhere, unprocessed. Kevin Murphy wants to change that and make a difference; he switched to 100% recycled ocean plastic packaging.
The reason why Murphy wants to make this product is because he’s witnessed how pristine beaches got tainted in plastic and since then he has a mission to clean up oceans and create a circular supply chain. Other than that, the brand wants to spark a dialogue about safe packaging disposal, since there’s only about 9% of plastic all over the world that gets recycled.
Murphy said, “We have swallowed a lot of the cost ourselves to make this happen but we feel the issue is so important to the future of the planet that we need to make that sacrifice.” And that statement is true because sourcing ocean plastic is actually more expensive (about five times more) than using virgin plastic. That said, supporting the brand is the best we can do.
Do you have local brands that upcycles ocean waste into something that you use daily like this? What’s your favorite product in this list? Do tell us in the comments below. For a related reading, click here.
Source(s)
https://www.trendhunter.com/slideshow/ocean-plastic-products
https://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/how-tasmanian-designer-brodie-neill-was-inspired-by-ocean-waste-20170922-gymr3n.html
https://www.trendhunter.com/trends/jenga-ocean
https://www.afar.com/magazine/save-oceans-as-you-shop-10-sustainable-products-made-from-recycled-waste
https://www.trendhunter.com/trends/parley-soma
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