Report: Ocean Bottle Collected 10M Pounds of Sea-Bound Plastic Last Year

Last year, certified B Corp and sustainable drinkware supplier Ocean Bottle (asi/74713) funded the collection of about 10 million pounds of ocean-bound plastic.

That’s just one of many highlights from the U.K.-based company’s 2023 Impact Report.

Another: As of April 2024, Ocean Bottle said it’s collected more than 29.4 million pounds of plastic. For every one of its reusable bottles purchased, the supplier funds the collection of the equivalent of 1,000 bottles’ worth of ocean-bound plastic, partnering with Plastic Bank, Plastics for Change and Repurpose to help set up recycling infrastructure in coastal communities around the world with high levels of plastic pollution.

“2023 has been quite the ride, but above all it’s a year that has shown us that our impact business model is working and making a difference,” co-founders Nick Doman and Will Pearson shared in their impact report intro. “We strive to do good for people and the planet, but we’re far from perfect. Exposing our challenges presents the best chance for improvement. It’s an open invitation for everyone to do the same.”

One of Ocean Bottle’s achievements was convening its Impact Advisory Board, a team of experts in the field of ocean health meant to help the supplier understand the most pressing marine-related concerns and how to transition to a plastic-free world.

The supplier also launched Ocean Co., which was initially built as an internal track-and-trace plastic collection platform, but now exists as a plug-and-play software-as-a-service solution that empowers other brands to add verified plastic collection to any product or service.

According to Ocean Bottle: “Our Impact Engine ensures every contribution toward ocean plastic collection is verified, and impactful. Collection impact is tracked via our Engine’s ledger, pairing every contribution with verified plastic collection data whilst preventing double counting.”

Ocean Co. has more than 30 customers, helping to collect about 123,567 pounds of ocean-bound plastic.

On the production side, Ocean Bottle was able to reconfigure the baseplates of its Original Ocean Bottle, so that they’re now crafted from 100% ocean-bound plastic, which the supplier said is double what it could previously achieve.

Plus, Ocean Bottle boosted the amount of recycled, ocean-bound plastic in its Material Edition bottles by 9%, complementing the recycled stainless steel used for the body of the bottle.

Last year, Ocean Bottle switched to a new tool to measure its Scope 3 greenhouse gas emissions more accurately by focusing on actual activity, rather than estimating GHG emissions based on financial cost. The supplier said it reduced Scope 3 emissions by roughly 11% in 2023 compared to the previous year.

Meanwhile, Ocean Bottle has established a 556-acre locally managed marine area seagrass meadow in Kenya’s Vanga Bay to support carbon reduction, community infrastructure and marine life.

At the end of the report, Ocean Bottle laid out several goals for 2024: accelerating its voice in ocean health through marketing, collaborations and its advisory board; increasing the average recycled content of products sold by 15% from 2023 while lowering air freight emissions by 9%; building at least two material recovery facilities and adding one new collection partner in a polluted region to amplify its impact on plastic waste collection; and increasing employee diversity representation by 5%.

Ocean Bottle’s sustainable drinkware line – with its built-in giveback mission to keep plastic out of oceans while simultaneously providing meaningful employment – has resonated in the promo world. In February 2024, Top 40 supplier Goldstar (asi/73295) announced a partnership with Ocean Bottle to offer its drinkware made of recycled materials to the industry.