“Hey man, how come there’s all this plastic on the beach and no one’s doing anything about it?” Andrew Cooper, a surfer from Florida, asked a lifeguard at a beach in Bali.
Government workers clean the beach in the morning, the lifeguard replied, but trash washes up with tides throughout the day. For Cooper and fellow surfer/close friend Alex Schulze, a seed was planted. They could do something about that trash.
But what?
The two men had recently graduated from college with business degrees. They decided to found a company that would produce products crafted from recycled marine trash. Cooper and Schulze formed 4Ocean, a business that manufactures bracelets from recycled ocean and beach waste. Available in varied colors, 4Ocean bracelets typically have a cord made from recycled plastic and clear beads made from recycled glass. For each bracelet bought, at least one pound of garbage is removed from the ocean or its coastline. The company also manufactures other items such as reusable metal straws, drinking tumblers, and hats.
Like Marc Skid, 4Ocean calls itself a “purpose-driven business.” Its website declares that, since the company’s 2017 founding, it has removed over 9 million pounds of garbage from oceans and beaches! The business invites customers to join its “Clean Ocean Club” in which members receive a new bracelet each month and enjoy the satisfaction of knowing they contribute to pulling “12 pounds of trash a year” from the world’s beloved marine areas.
To learn more, check out its website at 4ocean.com.
References
4ocean.com
Huddleston Jr., Tom. “These 20-something surfers started a company that’s pulled 1 million pounds of garbage out of the ocean.” CNBC Make It. Sept. 7, 2018.
“These millennials started a business to rid the world’s oceans of plastic.” Today. July 1, 2018.