A company called 4Ocean wants to help put an end to plastic pollution in the oceans. For several years now, its teams have removed thousands of tons of waste from the sea and turned it into bracelets and other recycled objects.
It all started in 2015, when two young surfers from Florida, Andrew Cooper and Alex Schulze, went on a surfing trip to the island of Bali in Indonesia. There, they discovered something shocking: beautiful beaches almost completely covered in plastic trash.
Indonesia is a very popular place for surfers, but it is also one of the countries that pollute the oceans the most with plastic. Every year, millions of tons of plastic waste are produced there, and a large part of it ends up in the sea.
When they returned home, Andrew and Alex decided to take action. In 2017, they created 4Ocean, a company whose goal is to remove plastic and glass from oceans, rivers, and coastlines. The waste they collect is then recycled, especially to make bracelets. Each bracelet sold helps remove several pounds of trash from nature.
Today, 4Ocean works in several parts of the world, including Florida, Guatemala, and Indonesia. Since it was founded, the company estimates that it has removed tens of millions of pounds of waste from the oceans.
In Bali, local teams go out every morning to clean the beaches. The trash is then sorted and transformed. According to local people, the results are easy to see: rivers are cleaner, fish are coming back, and mangroves (trees that are very important for the ocean) are growing better.
4Ocean is not the only group taking action. Other organizations and volunteers also clean beaches and encourage recycling. But despite all these efforts, millions of tons of plastic still pollute the oceans every year.
That is why 4Ocean explains that cleaning up is not enough. We also need to change our habits, use less plastic, and learn how to better protect our planet.
As the company says:
👉 Each of us can help stop plastic from reaching the oceans.
🌍 Protecting the ocean means protecting life.
