Prevented Ocean Plastic celebrated another successful year in 2022!
We continued to work with wonderful collectors, recyclers, suppliers, brands, and consumers. Together we have collected over a billion bottles for the UK and EU market. With that kind of consistent support, and with your help, we can keep the circular economy going and make 2023 an even better year.
Prevented Ocean Plastic and Bantam UK Director Raffi Schieir participated in some amazing events this year, including Sustainability Live, which was viewable online across the entire world, and Reset Connect London. Raffi shared the importance of acting now and investing in the blue economy for a better future. We hope to be able to see you at more events in 2023 and connect with thought leaders in the plastics industry, as well as consumers, to create demand and spread the word about the important work we can do together.
The support and investment that we have received from USAID and our partnership with Circulate Capital to build new collection centres in Indonesia is something we’re immensely proud of this year. Each collection centre will bring around 100 jobs to the area and build the infrastructure that will benefit the at-risk coastal communities in many ways. Prevented Ocean Plastic is the first ever recycling programme to receive USAID investment.
We furthered our relationship with brands like Ocean Saver, Hum Nutrition, Treaclemoon, and more, while introducing new partners and products such as Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton’s Château Galoupet Nomade wine, the Get Wash Down line, and Hana Sushi’s fresh counter items at Marks & Spencer. This year Beauty Hygiene Plus launched their products in Boots. This means you can now find us in drugstores around the UK, as well as supermarkets such as Lidl, who have expanded their POP packaging over the past year to not only include fresh fish and cut fruit, but also their sausages range.
We hope to be able to work with more brands in the future, so that you’ll be able to find products packaged in Prevented Ocean Plastic as part of the circular economy in supermarkets around the world.
Another partnership we are proud of this year is with our ambassadors- volleyball champion Issa Batrane, the UK Beach Tour, and table tennis star Martin Perry. They truly understand the importance of protecting the natural environment and promoting the circular economy for a better future. We’ve enjoyed inviting Martin along to meet some of the suppliers in Dumfries, as well as welcoming Issa at the collection centre in Bali to see the impact of POP up close.
A lot has happened in this last quarter of the year. We announced our new partnership with Spectra Packaging. All future PCR PET products produced at Spectra Packaging will have Prevented Ocean Plastic as the standard. According to Spectra’s Sales Director, Jonathan Powell, “The POP partnership is massively exciting for us, and we believe our customers will also recognise the environmental and societal benefits. Our commitment to POP presents a systemic evolution for Spectra, which we believe is an effective, responsible solution to ocean plastic waste.”
Our research with Kantar, the world’s leading marketing data and analytics company, was published. They polled almost 2000 shoppers across eight leading UK supermarkets to assess attitudes towards sustainability and recycled packaging and found that consumers want better plastic choices. Nearly three-quarters (73%) of the shoppers said they were interested in buying fish in Prevented Ocean Plastic packaging if it was the same price or product as with other packaging, and 58% said they would swap to Prevented Ocean Plastic packaged fish if it was available in their supermarket. Additionally, nearly half (43%) said they would buy the products in Prevented Ocean Plastic packaging because it’s better for the environment.
Something we brought to the attention of the UK’s new Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, in our Dear Prime Minister letter for The Times, The Guardian and The Evening Standard, is that the circular economy is not just in our hands. Everyone needs to contribute if we want to meet the recycling goals for 2025.
During the year’s most important climate change event, COP27, we brought together the world’s best recyclers from four continents to discuss ideas on how to make the programme even better, more effective, and more efficient. This was supported by our new POP Standards that we carefully put together after months of trialling and research. These standards include criteria designed to minimise environmental impact, ensure quality products, and improve workers conditions.
With an eye to the future, we were also very proud to announce our expansion into POP Africa. We will create new infrastructure in two areas in East Africa – including the Swahili Coast and where the Nile meets the Mediterranean – this will save up to 5,000 tonnes of plastic a year from entering the ocean through pollution. Prevented Ocean Plastic Africa will be partnering with a leading manufacturer to create fully traceable, certified, quality recycled plastic. Using a proven model, underpinned with rigorous standards, the expansion of the programme into Africa will mean the global programme will accelerate to stop over a billion bottles – enough to fill one of Egypt’s great pyramids – from entering the world’s oceans in the next 18 months.
There are many more exciting things to come. We hope to see you in 2023!
About PREVENTED OCEAN PLASTIC:
Prevented Ocean Plastic is a pioneering plastic recycling company developing locally customized sorting and collection infrastructure to underserved communities across the world. We are committed to strengthening the supply chain and scaling solutions for the management of plastic waste in the country. We provide high quality traceable recycled plastic to global markets to drive environmental, social and economic value from the bottle collector to the end consumer.
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