2024 was another year of success, progress, proper recycling and promoting better choices for Prevented Ocean Plastic™.
We pushed our business forward: Prevented Ocean Plastic™ continued to offer our ethically-sourced, fully traceable, high quality material.
If you were in central London for the two weeks around 2024’s World Oceans Day, you might have seen our logo on a much larger scale than usual. We took to the streets- literally- to share a clear and simple (and six-foot high) message advocating for a better plastic choice. We also announced England and Saracens Rugby captain Marlie Packer as a new ambassador to help tackle ocean plastic pollution. And we presented our solution at the Packaging Innovations and Empack show, our first time with a stand at a two-day event, returned to Plastics Recycling Show Europe where our Founder Raffi Schieir was nominated for Recycling Ambassador of the Year, and attended London Packaging Week.
We helped people: Prevented Ocean Plastic™ created jobs, elevated standards, provided regular income for first collectors, and pushed for progress in the informal waste sector.
In 2024, Prevented Ocean Plastic™ piloted its first worker survey in Indonesia. The purpose of the survey was to better understand the livelihoods, experiences and needs of workers in our supply chain. More than 150 workers across 10 collection and aggregation centres were invited to participate. The results of the survey will be used to further develop the Prevented Ocean Plastic™ programme and to support collection centres with any improvement suggestions.
And we protected the planet: Prevented Ocean Plastic™ has prevented more than 2.5 billion bottles from entering oceans around the world.
Last year, Prevented Ocean Plastic™ partnered with the University of Georgia to fund a four-year research project to broaden our understanding of how litter on land ends up in our oceans. Part of that project included a Circularity Assessment Protocol (CAP) carried out in 2024. The CAP is a hub-and-spoke model that creates a snapshot of a city’s circularity and can provide data for local, regional, or national decision‐making to reduce leakage of waste into the environment, and increase circular materials management. The methodology is designed by the Jambeck Research Group, spearheaded by Dr. Jenna Jambeck. The field work was carried out by a local partner, Nipe Fagio. Results will be released in 2025.
Also in 2024, the Prevented Ocean Plastic™ 25 by 2025 mission continued. In June, a ribbon was cut outside of a new build collection centre in Makassar, Indonesia. In September, Prevented Ocean Plastic™ Southeast Asia partnered with Danone to build a centre in Borneo- the first of its kind in the region. And in November, we entered East Africa and built a new centre in Tanzania. Our Impact Franchise Model has now been successfully vetted five separate times by five different styles of finance partner (For-Profit, Government, Financial, Business, Not-for-Profit). And our 25 by 2025 mission has received impact investment and other funding from numerous sources, including Circulate Capital and USAID’s Clean Cities Blue Ocean initiative.
One of the results of all this hard work is that more brands can offer their consumers a credible better plastic choice.
2024 saw Kure and NEO WTR put circularity into action by turning ocean-bound bottles into brand new water bottles. Kure expanded their impact by partnering with Premier League club Crystal Palace F.C., while NEO won a Global Good award recognising their better choices. We were proud to collaborate with Crystal Palace’s Palace for Life foundation, getting co-branded refillable water bottles into the South London community.
The Wine Society switched a pair of white wines, including their best-selling White Burgundy, into bottles made from Prevented Ocean Plastic™. The Royal National Lifeboat Institution were protected by POP via a partnership with Grangers who supplied crews with products to help extend the life of their kit. Nala’s Baby aligned their packaging with their products, moving almost their entire range to Prevented Ocean Plastic rHDPE. And in March, cosmetics retailer Lush announced that it had started transitioning all of its clear PET bottles into our material. Members of the Lush team even travelled through our supply chain to see the elevated standards and high quality practices there first-hand.
Prevented Ocean Plastic™ is built on a strategy of credibility first. Our team is focused on a mission to recycle, clean, build and elevate. But we will always welcome recognition for the Programme’s progress and achievements. In 2024, Prevented Ocean Plastic won the Sustainable Innovation in Materials Award from the Plastics Industry Association, won a Global Good award, was also a finalist in three categories at the UK Packaging Awards, and Bantam Materials UK Ltd, the supplier of Prevented Ocean Plastic™, was awarded gold in the Initiatives category and bronze for Innovation at the International CSR Excellence Awards.
Lush were winners of the Marie Claire Ocean Friendly award for their switch to Prevented Ocean Plastic™ material, and also won the Sustainability category at the Retail Gazette Game Changer Awards with a special mention of our programme!
2024 was another year of success, progress, proper recycling and promoting better choices for Prevented Ocean Plastic™. But we couldn’t have done it without our partners, without businesses wanting to do better, or without you! Here’s to a fantastic 2025.
About PREVENTED OCEAN PLASTIC™:
Prevented Ocean Plastic™ is high quality, certified recycled plastic that has been collected from coastal areas at risk of ocean plastic pollution. Used by supermarkets and brands around the world, it meets regulatory health and safety standards, is traceable back to source and can be identified on-pack through its distinctive triangular logo. Prevented Ocean Plastic™ supply major manufacturing partners such as Groupe Guillin, Spectra Packaging, and Berry Global for offerings across multiple product categories, including food and drink, personal care, pet products and home cleaning. Prevented Ocean Plastic™ is an award-winning, three-time Earthshot Prize nominee, and has collected over 2.5 billion plastic bottles from where they don’t belong since 2020.
