We have all seen those colorful beaded bracelets while checking out a store or seen them on someone’s wrist. 4ocean, the creators of these bracelets claim they are cleaning the ocean with each sale. Their holiday slogan is, “give the gift of a cleaner ocean this holiday season.” 4ocean not only sells bracelets, but also reusable water bottles, apparel, and accessories as well.
The brand began to send crews out in vessels to clean the oceans with certain technologies for different environments. Every pound is weighed and documented. So far, the organization has collected over 11,500,000 pounds of floating plastic. Not only has 4ocean cleaned a vast majority of oceans and rivers on Earth, but they have also found a way to recycle it.
In 2018, China stopped accepting disposable waste from multiple countries as part of the National Sword policy. Many organizations were forced to find an alternative option. Many companies are using a mechanical recycling process where they collect the waste, sort it, clean it, and turn it into small plastic pellets that can be molded into different products.
4ocean is one company doing exactly that. With this process, they are able to create their products using completely recycled materials. They then use the profits to continue to clean the ocean further.