Words by Smiley Team
Businesses are giving back in creative ways – from planting trees, to donating money to charity, and volunteering their staff for the greater good.
Another way many companies are working towards a more sustainable world is through helping remove plastic from our oceans.
Marine plastic can be ingested by species in the water, and there are also issues of suffocation and entanglement. Marine wildlife such as seabirds, whales, fishes and turtles, often mistake plastic for prey, and many die of starvation as their stomachs are filled with plastic debris.
So, there couldn’t be a better time for businesses to help with the problem. Here are seven companies doing their bit.
[Read More: These 5 companies plant trees for every product you buy]
The vegan wine brand collects 10 plastic bottles from the ocean for every bottle of wine bought. So far, Hidden Sea has removed the equivalent of 5.5 million bottles – that’s 100,000 kilos of plastic. And now, they’re chuffed they can directly show the impact their business is making. Read more about the brand with our Smiley News interview.
Lick has teamed up with 4ocean, so for every 2.5 litre paint tin it sells, 4ocean removes 18g of plastic (that's the equivalent of two plastic bottles) from the sea. So far, the company has helped to remove just over five tons of plastic from the sea - just short of 51,000 plastic bottles. Find out more.
When you buy a reusable Ocean Bottle, you’re funding the collection of 1,000 ocean-bound plastic bottles in weight. The company works with Plastic Bank, who ensure 11.4kg of plastic will be collected from the ocean for the sale of every bottle. So far, the company has collected nearly 2 million kgs of plastic. Find out more.
The sportswear platform for women sells products that are made from plastic bottles, fishing nets and other misplaced plastics recovered from the ocean. The vision of the brand is to reuse materials as much as possible to create less waste – it has the mission: ”We are fighting pollution through sport", and removes 1kg of plastic per sale. Find out more.
The company’s mission is simple: to make a craft beer that whoever drinks it, turns into a “planet-saving hero”. The company donates 100% of its profits to ocean conservation through the Ocean Born Foundation. Ocean Beer also strives for low waste and sustainable production across all its products, including labels made from 100% recycled materials, bottles made from over 70% recycled glass and all packaging being 100% recyclable. Find out more.
This is a shopping app and smart bag that helps to remove ocean plastic. Available on the App store or Google Play, you can earn rewards to spend on your favourite sustainable brands in a brand new in-app marketplace – just by walking around London (and soon more cities throughout the world) with a connected Smart Bag advertising ethical brands. Plastic Bank removes ocean plastic on your behalf for each journey. You download the Bagboard app for free on Android or iOS and request a free Bagboard smart bag to be posted to you. Find out more.
This sustainable clothing company has a ‘One Tee, One Kg’ promotion every three months. This means, for every order made Friday to Sunday, a kilogram of ocean-bound plastic is recovered and recycled – the equivalent of 50 plastic bottles. They count the orders and fund the plastic recovery that's done through their partners at Plastic Bank. This initiative is spaced out with other eco weekend promotions, such as tree planting and wildflower meadow planting. Find out more.
Image credit: By somavarapu madhavi / Shutterstock
