Ocean Bottle and Sustainable Business

What is transparency and how can we, as consumers, help change the world? Is there such a thing as sustainable business?

Let’s dive into the world of sustainable business from a founder’s point of view. Last week we spoke to Will Pearson, co-founder of Ocean Bottle (the world’s most needed reusable bottle!), for a Q&A session. If you couldn’t make it, fret not! I’m here to tell you some of the big pointers he gave us regarding making ocean plastic into a business and being a sustainable brand in a world of unsustainable options.

What is Ocean Bottle?

Ocean Bottle is an award winning reusable bottle that stops ocean plastic and supports livelihoods. How? Well, Will Pearson wanted it to be simple for consumers to help counteract the massive plastic pollution problem we are faced with today. Will and co-founder Nick Doman were both familiar with the problem arising from poor recycling infrastructures in impoverished coastal communities. The solution was simple: provide people with a sustainable product that upon purchase, contributes towards the collection of ocean-bound plastic.

They teamed up with Plastic Bank, a social enterprise that works with plastic collection whilst providing people with livelihoods. When you buy an Ocean Bottle, the collection of 11kgs of ocean bound plastic is funded in places where plastic pollution is worst. They currently have collection points along coastal communities in Haiti, the Philippines and Indonesia. Locals in these areas can exchange plastic for money or credit to spend on school tuition, products, health insurance and access to microfinance. They have over 21 000 registered collectors in these countries! Through a circular system of collection and recycling, they are creating an environmental and social impact.

So far, Ocean Bottle has sold over 82k bottles - collecting almost 1 million kgs of ocean bound plastic. That is enough plastic to fill the area of 137 football fields!

What is the hardest thing about creating a sustainable brand?

There is a lot of time and thought that goes into a product like Ocean Bottle. For them, it was difficult to find the balance between creating something that works well for the consumer, and choosing materials that are thoroughly sustainable. Unfortunately, there are almost always some trade-offs that need to happen. For example, sourcing sustainable material for the bottle was a struggle, especially sustainable stainless steel for a thermos design.

However, Will says that these faults can always be made better and improved with time. They are now using the most sustainable stainless steel they can source and finding new and improved materials including a wood chip material, for their bottles. Although their factories are in China, which increases their carbon footprint from shipping, they worked to counteract much of this by demanding that the factory change to solar power. We think it should be the goal of any business to always look for more sustainable options!

What can we do?

Will was also clear about the importance of transparency from companies. Transparency is when a brand is open and honest about their environmental impacts - from production to shipping.It is essential that they are as transparent as possible today, if we are going to see any changes in the way people buy things. Following this, he says it is essential that people choose wisely with their wallets. Look into a brand properly if you are thinking about supporting them. Be critical! Are they doing enough to minimise their environmental footprint? It is through small choices like these we can make a difference in the world of consumerism.