Our partnership with Seven Clean Seas

Our partnership with Seven Clean Seas

by Angus Ware

Heliograf is proud to have partnered with the incredible team at Seven Clean Seas: an ocean impact organisation based in Singapore that removes plastic from coastlines, mangroves, rivers and nearshore areas in Indonesia and Thailand.

Seven Clean Seas is an organisation in love with the ocean focusing on implementing plastic removal projects tackling environmental and social issues. Seven Clean Seas' goal is to remove 10,000,000 kilos of plastic –the weight of the Eiffel Tower– from the ocean and to hire 200 formal workers by 2025. To do so, Seven Clean Seas partners with businesses and individuals to co-create sustainability initiatives and targets that measure, reduce, and compensate for their plastic footprint.

Seven Clean Seas follows industry best practices in all of their impact projects. This includes certification under recognised standards such as the Verra Plastic Waste Reduction Program and OBP Neutralization Certification and audited by Control Union. Certification is crucial not only to prevent plastic from re-entering the environment but also to ensure there is no child labour, workers are paid fairly, receive health benefits, and are treated with respect.

Seven Clean Seas formally hires local crew members to improve socioeconomic conditions while providing full transparency on where the plastic waste is collected, deposited and who collected it. This ensures there is no green-washing or exploitation of cheap labour. Seven Clean Seas helps clean the environment and support the local community at the same time.

For each Light Soy lamp that is shipped, Heliograf funds the removal of 2 kilograms of plastic from the marine environment with Seven Clean Seas. This is in addition to the recycled ocean-bound plastic in the lamp itself, which is sourced from other certified ocean-bound plastic cleanup and recycling suppliers.

Learn more about Seven Clean Seas on their website and follow on Instagram

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Impact Update 2024

Impact Update 2024

It’s our 5th birthday this month, and we’ve just hit a milestone of 30 tonnes of plastic cleaned up 🌊 That’s equal to the weight of 🐟 30 million soy fish 🐟 prevented from causing harm in the ocean.  If that many soy fish packets were laid end-to-end, they would reach the length of Honshu, the main island of Japan.  We’ve achieved this through an amazing partnership with Seven Clean Seas, who not only clean up plastic from coastlines, mangroves, rivers and nearshore areas, but also provide formal employment and opportunities for locals in those places. They’re making a huge difference by addressing the cause of ocean plastic right at the source and helping the local community at the same time.  The other source is of course the products we consume and how they are designed and move through our economy. We can always do more to reduce our reliance on single-use plastics and prevent any kind of waste from being created in the first place – and in the 5 years since we launched Light Soy, so much has been done to shift toward a circular economy by amazing people. Our products are designed to shine light on the positive side of humanity – we can make things better for the planet & for people people, bit by bit, drop by drop. It’s through science, technology, engineering, creativity, art and people that we will change the world.  So thanks to everyone who has shared, purchased and loved our products – we’re very lucky to have a global community of sushi + design lovers to keep inspiring us ♥️ Learn more about the soy fish packets and how to make a difference  

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Skip the soy fish when eating sushi

Skip the soy fish when eating sushi

From the container, the soy sauce, wasabi and ginger packets, chopsticks and other bits and pieces, a quick bite of sushi could end up with a pile of trash that’s headed for the ocean. But it doesn’t have to be like this! Here’s some things you can do to make a difference.  Rethink, reuse, recycle To reduce waste we need to think through these steps in order. How can we rethink, reduce and redesign waste? How can we reuse the things we can’t avoid? As a last resort, how can we recycle that waste into something purposeful?    Skip the fish & other single-use items The little soy packets are a waste and, frankly, shouldn’t exist. The biggest way you can make a difference is to skip the fish – and stop using all single-use plastic whenever possible.   Re-use Switching to reusable items will make a big difference. Ask your local sushi shop if they will let you bring your own container, and take proper chopsticks. If you can eat at home or the office, use a soy sauce bottle with a small dish for saucing your sushi.  If you have no choice but to use single-use plastic, try to re-use it as many times as you can. You can rinse and refill the soy fish packets by squeezing them in a shallow dish.    Look for sustainable alternatives Where single-use items are unavoidable, they can be substituted for compostable alternatives, like those made from paper pulp. There are new plastic-free alternatives becoming available all the time!    Recycle For anything that’s left, recycling is a last resort that can turn waste back into useful things. The little soy fish are so small that they generally can’t be recycled in domestic waste if they are loose. You can pack them in a larger container made from the same type of plastic. Many soy fish packets are made from LDPE  (low-density polyethylene) which has the resin code #4, but you’ll need to check yours. If you’re unsure, don’t put them in the recycling, put them in the bin.      Restaurants If you run a restaurant, reducing waste and getting rid of single-use plastics can lower costs, and benefit your brand. Ask if customers need any single-use items and how many they need Provide reusable items like eat-in serve-ware and sauce pourers Join or start a container return scheme Eliminate any excess packaging Use compostable alternatives to single-use items Offer a discount to customers using reusable items About our design We created Light Soy to highlight the big impact of small objects on ocean plastic and encourage people to quit single-use plastic. Light Soy’s recycled ocean-bound plastic shade is making a real difference in regions most affected by plastic pollution. 

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The big problem with little soy sauce fish packets

The big problem with little soy sauce fish packets

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