Each fortnight we hold Hangout calls for members from all over the world to connect, inspire, and learn about new solutions. This week we were delighted to hear from Seven Clean Seas, which is on a mission to lead a resistance against marine plastic pollution, remove 1,000,000kg ocean plastic pollution by 2025, and operate in the seven worst plastic polluting countries globally. It is currently working with Fellow Member Nikoi Island. 

 

Seven Clean Seas hopes to achieve this through the following solutions:

 

• Community outreach including community beach clean-ups, educational talks, and corporate events.
• High impact projects in development including River Plastic collection recovery system, and an environmental packaging plastic recovery facility.
• Funding mechanisms including plastic ‘offsetting’ where plastic use is harder to avoid (e.g. medical supplies), corporate sponsorship, and B2C eCommerce.

 

To date, the organisation has removed over 55,000kg of plastic pollution from the marine environment in Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore.  Part of this effort includes working with Fellow Members Nikoi and Cempedak (Indonesia) by bringing back furloughed employees for beach clean-ups on Bintan Island. The beach-cleaning team of 22 staff collected 815 kilograms on their first day of operations from Bintan’s east coast beaches.

 

Andrew Dixon CEO of Nikoi Island commented, “It is incredibly hard work collecting plastic like this—I’m really proud of the team for getting stuck in and making a difference to their community. Seven Clean Seas is offering some really innovative solutions to clean up the seas, and I hope more hospitality businesses get involved to see how they can help, too.”  Nikoi employee Bima, 34-years-old, said, “For me, this activity is eye-opening and educational. I felt somewhat responsible after seeing that much of plastic waste on our beach, we collected more than 500kg today. I really hope I can learn how I can contribute more to this cause in the future.“

 

Seven Clean Seas aims to scale up its initiative in Bintan, Indonesia, and elsewhere in Southeast Asia, and potentially working in partnership with other Long Run members globally.

 

You can find out more by watching this video or visit Seven Clean Seas.