For many years we have been working towards how we can turn the tide on ocean plastic and marine waste with design and creative thinking. A small business in Bristol, we started our sustainable journey from humble beginnings in utilising waste materials for our fire cluster lamps, created the ‘Ocean Chair’ in 2018 and now our latest plant pot made with 100% recycled ocean plastic waste called ‘Oceana’. It’s been a long journey of discovery putting one foot in front of the other facing one challenge at a time.
Winning the war on ocean plastic & empowering coastal communities
It’s our mission to use beautiful design and creative business thinking to empower coastal communities, clean our coasts of plastic pollution and demonstrate solutions through positive action. We believe our plant pot is the beginning of a beautiful story in the war on plastic and ocean pollution. We hope to inspire people with a positive story of a battle that was won recently in the war on ocean plastics.
Along the coast of northern Scotland in a beautiful area called Balnakeil bay, a ghost net has laid buried in the sand dunes for 10 years. As each tide moved in the sand would bury it deeper and deeper. A small and little known charity called plasticatbay.org that has been cleaning and monitoring marine debris in the area for years came across this massive net.
It quickly became clear that it was much bigger than expected. Spread over 100m of the beach, It was buried deep under the sand so they would have to monitor it and cut off what they could to prevent marine animals from getting entangled. It was a slow and painful process.
Cleaning our seas planting positivity
In early February 2020, there was a huge storm that would change things. The winds moved across the coast whipping up the sea and creating massive swells which surged onto the beach. Soon the dunes had shifted and moved and the net was released from the clutches of the sand. Within days Julien, Joan and their team had freed the net and collected several hundred kilograms. For nearly a year the net has been washed by storms and rain stored and is finally being cleaned and processed. The net was progressively cut, dried and shredded and is now being turned into our ‘Oceana’ ocean plastic plant pot.
The ‘Oceana’ – A plant pot made from recycled ocean plastics
The material was dispatched a few weeks ago and is now being made into our designer plant pots. We are humbled by all the work the charity does on the ground and happy to support their work. It has always been a dream of mine to turn trash into treasure and demonstrate how we can turn ocean waste into a valuable resource.
I am now making a small batch of these plant pots and aim to scale and grow the business with a product range of plant pots and other products. Each plant pot is made from recycled ghost net plastics creating a beautiful and unique item for your home. The material is super strong, the colours are beautiful and totally unique. We pay a premium for the material which provide a sustainable income to the charity and community. A percentage of the profits also go towards charity which provides an income to support further work and research.
Plant pot made from 100% recycled Ocean plastics
So all around it is a beautiful circular recycled material story creating wealth and abundance for coastal communities, helping nature and germinating smiles in peoples homes. thank you for joining us on the journey and for your continuing support.
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