4ocean sets new plastic trash collection record

Since launching in 2017, 4ocean, an ocean cleanup company based in Boca Raton, Florida, has been dedicated to cleaning the waterways of the world. Now operating in 12 locations across three countries worldwide, including the USA, Guatemala, and Indonesia, it has grown into the leading ocean cleanup company. In doing so, it has made history: in a world first, it has recovered the most plastic waste and man-made debris from the waterways ever recorded by a single organisation - 30 million pounds worth, or almost 13,700 tonnes.
“4ocean is incredibly proud to have accomplished this record-setting feat” said Alex Schulze, 4ocean CEO and Co-Founder. “We’ve built an entire business for the sole purpose of cleaning the ocean. With hundreds of local captains and crew members recovering trash from our oceans and coastlines seven days a week and the support of millions of people doing their part to prevent plastic pollution, I'm sure our work will have a lasting impact on the ocean."
Schulze made the announcement after the 4ocean TrashTracker, a proprietary database used to document the company’s recovered materials from recovery through their entire supply chain, was independently audited and verified by GreenCircle Certified.
4ocean recovers plastic waste and other debris from oceans, rivers, and coastlines and transports this back to local facilities, where it is weighed, documented, washed, and sorted by type and colour.
Depending of the type of plastic, it is then recycled or alternatively extruded into plastic lumber. If the material is truly at the end of its lifecycle, and cannot be reused or recycled, 4ocean ensures this is either responsibly landfilled or sent to the Solid Waste Authority in West Palm Beach, Florida, where it is converted into energy.

The company funds its activities in various ways, one of which is by selling bracelets - the company promises to ‘pull a pound’ of marine debris from the world’s oceans, rivers, and coastlines for each bracelet sold. The bracelets are made with glass beads strung on 4ocean plastic.
According to Schulze,plastic pollution disproportionately impacts poor and marginalized communities around the world.
“All of our captains and crews live in the communities we serve and are hired as full-time employees. All of our bracelets are handcrafted by artisans living in either Guatemala or Bali. Every bracelet purchased funds our cleanups and creates jobs that provide the steady income people in these communities need right now.”
In addition, the company runs a number of programmes that bring in extra funds, such as the Corporate Partnerships Program, which works with companies to offset their plastic usage and aid in waterway cleanup efforts around the globe.“There’s no way we could do this on our own,” said Ryan Dick, 4ocean Partnerships Marketing Manager. “By partnering with other environmentally-conscious brands, we’ve managed to offset hundreds of thousands of pounds of plastic and committed funding to remove millions more. But this crisis won’t be solved by cleanups alone.”

4ocean has also announced a partnership with Corona International to reduce plastic pollution in the oceans by moving collection efforts upstream into highly polluted rivers. One of the most polluted rivers in Central America is the Motagua River in Guatemala, which accounts for roughly 2% of all the plastic waste entering the oceans each year. 4ocean has launched a 5-year project, called ‘A River of Change from Corona x 4ocean’ to address this leakage, using containment booms to to intercept and collect debris as it flows downstream without restricting wildlife.
“When they say a small group of dedicated people can change the world, believe them,” said Schulze. “Reaching 30 million pounds of plastic and trash removed from the oceans is just the first step. We still have a lot of work to do.”