As the world waits for the UN treaty on plastic to be finalised in Paris, Lo Bros Not Soda, an Australian impact-lead drinks company, takes on plastic pollution in partnership with Seven Clean Seas.
Soft drink companies are among the worst polluters in the world, and Australia one of the largest plastic producers in the world. In honour of United Nations World Oceans Day today, Lo Bros is making an effort to stem the tide with a large-scale ocean cleanup in Indonesia.
Over the next decade, it’s estimated that the plastic pollution in our oceans will triple. Just last month, Inger Anderson, UNEP Executive Director & UN Under-Secretary-General, said of plastic waste: “We cannot recycle our way out of this mess. Only elimination, reduction, a full life-cycle approach, transparency and a just transition can bring success.”
Didi Lo, Founder of Lo Bros, said World Oceans Day is a chance for all to reflect on the persistent issue of plastic solutions, especially the burden it places on disadvantaged nations, such as Indonesia.
“Seven Clean Seas, in partnership with Not Soda, has made remarkable strides in tackling this challenge by recovering a significant amount of plastic waste from waterways. As we celebrate this achievement, we must recognise the importance of collective action. We’re facing a global trash emergency and the time to act is now,” he said.
Tom Peacock-Nazil, Co-Founder of Seven Clean Seas, said a shared love of the ocean brought the two companies together, but more is needed to avoid a global catastrophe.
“Once plastic enters the marine environment, it becomes a global issue and if we want to focus on avoiding this ocean catastrophe, we need to band together internationally and domestically,” he said.
The two companies are focusing their efforts on the islands of Batam and Bintan in the Riau Archipelago, Indonesia, where a lack of adequate waste management infrastructure makes plastic disposal almost impossible for residents who mainly live in stilted houses over the sea (kampongs).
Residents in these isolated communities have nowhere to dispose of their plastic waste, so it often goes through a hole in their floorboards directly into the marine environment.
Lo Bros’s ocean cleanup efforts have already removed the equivalent weight of one million plastic bottles (17,000 kgs) from these vulnerable ocean ecosystems, ahead of schedule on their pledge to remove five million bottles by 2025. The initiative has also provided over 60 local families with living wages and fair working conditions.
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