Plastic pollution affects developing countries much more than wealthy countries.

By buying certified ocean-bound plastic from these places, we can support the removal of waste from the environment where it has the biggest impact, and we support the development of better waste systems that stop the problem at the source.

We think using ocean-bound plastic is a sensible and trustworthy way to make an environmental and social impact. It’s a practical first step toward a new plastics economy that doesn’t pollute the planet.

Unfortunately some brands have conflated ocean-bound plastic with ocean plastic. It is not. Ocean-bound plastic is not from the ocean. It is intercepted before it reaches the ocean as a preventative measure.

It should also be said that OBP is not an excuse to keep making & using wasteful, disposable things. We need to re-think our economy completely with reusable, circular design principles and materials that don't harm the planet.

Much of the ocean plastic collected is so degraded that it is not usable as a material. You should be very sceptical of any product claiming to be made from ‘ocean plastic’.

81% of ocean plastic comes from just one region (source), and around 80% originates on land, much of it in rivers, shorelines and coastal areas.

If your bathroom was flooding you wouldn’t start mopping before you’d turned off the water.

Likewise, we believe that to properly address ocean plastic, we need to address it at the source: by stopping existing waste from reaching the ocean, and by re-designing our economy to not create waste at all.

To tackle our global waste problem, we need to rethink waste entirely and move to a more circular economy. While ocean-bound plastic is a great way to upcycle waste and support better waste management, it is not a long-term solution for our linear, wasteful economy.