Ecostore to combat ocean plastic pollution

NZ first – ecostore partners with global organisation to combat ocean plastic pollution

Ecostore is removing over half a tonne of plastic waste from the world’s oceans with today’s launch of a New Zealand first initiative – 20,000 Limited Edition Hand Wash bottles made completely from ocean waste plastic.

The first brand in Aotearoa to retail a 100 percent Ocean Waste Plastic bottle, ecostore is committed to helping raise awareness of the plastic pollution in our oceans, as well as being part of the solution.

Ecostore has partnered with Ocean Waste Plastic supplier Pack Tech, a global packaging manufacturer, focused on cleaning up the world’s oceans, to be part of an environmental solution with the 20,000 refillable pale blue bottles – helping to clean up over half a tonne of ocean waste plastic from the Java Sea in Bali and a river in Jakarta in Indonesia. Designed to be refilled again and again, each bottle features one of three beautiful artworks in an ocean theme by New Zealand artist Tomas Cottle. Ocean Waste Plastic is a world leader in creating circular supply chains that transform waste plastic into beautiful packaging.

“We try to find new ways to achieve a more sustainable future for both the environment and the packaging industry – Ocean Waste Plastic is one of them,” says Per Martin Mortensen, business development for ocean waste plastic at Pack Tech A/S.

“Utilising Ocean Waste Plastic not only reduces the total amount of plastic in the world but cleans our oceans of plastic. We need to create circular supply chains and re-use plastic once extracted from the oceans and from nearby areas where plastic potentially floats into the oceans.”

Ecostore’s managing director Pablo Kraus says, “We want to raise awareness of plastic pollution in our oceans, as well as being part of the solution. By making bottles out of recycled ocean waste plastic, ecostore will help create awareness and inspire environmental and social solutions posed by waste pollution in the oceans.”

The ocean is Olympic gold medal winners Peter Burling and Blair Tuke’s office and when the sailors are not training or competing, they are focused on fighting the good fight to ensure a healthy ocean for future generations.

The ecostore ambassadors believe New Zealanders have a responsibility to act now and change behaviour that is impacting the health of our ocean.

Burling says, "Living my life on the ocean it's been sad to witness its deterioration over the years. It really hit home to me how serious it was on my first round the world ocean race, and the remote parts of the world that were affected. We need to keep the ocean the magical home and life force it is. Plastic is one of the issues affecting the health of the ocean.”

Tuke says, "We need to look after our ocean, that’s part of our DNA as New Zealanders. Marine plastic pollution is a massive issue and the reality is, most of it is unseen. Every day we all make choices, both as businesses, and consumers, that can collectively make a big difference. It’s great to see ecostore use ocean waste plastic in this product and raising awareness of the issue. I'd love to see more companies look for alternative solutions that are better for the environment in the long run."

Ecostore have sourced the Ocean Waste Plastic bottles from Pack Tech, helping to clean up over half a tonne of plastic from the world’s worst areas, however they have also started collaborating with New Zealand-waterways based, not-for-profit Sea Cleaners in a bid to help tackle one of the world’s biggest environmental challenges of our lifetime – plastic pollution littering our oceans. Sea Cleaners has removed over 8.5 million litres of rubbish from the Auckland harbour and sea since 2002 – that is enough rubbish to fill approximately 283 shipping containers.

Sea Cleaners Founder, Hayden Smith says, “We are delighted to work with ecostore, Peter and Blair to raise awareness of the ocean waste problem, which hopefully prompts Kiwis to stop and think about what products they are choosing and to change their consumption patterns to help protect and restore our oceans.

“Businesses need to step up and create positive change and reduce their impact. Ways to do this include collecting and reusing plastic, increasing the use of recycled plastic, and modifying product packaging designs. Some companies have already made progress on this front, and I admire ecostore’s refill stations in supermarkets as well as this initiative introducing a range of bottles made from 100 percent recycled ocean waste plastic, that when in circulation will remove over half a tonne of plastic from our oceans.”

Every year eight million tonnes of plastic enters the world’s oceans according to a World Economic Forum report. That is equivalent to one garbage truck of plastic dumped into the ocean every minute, and that rate is set to triple over the next decade unless prompt action is taken. The report predicts that plastic will outnumber fish by weight in the oceans by 2050 if nothing is done to prevent new plastic pollution and clean up our oceans.

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