02 Sep We removed 2 tons of plastic from the ocean
Remember the movie, Julie & Julia? Where Julie Powell (played by Amy Adams) aspires to cook 524 recipes by Julia Child (played by Meryl Streep) from Child’s cookbook in 365 days?
I know this movie by heart because my daughter watched it a gazillion times.
Inspired by Powell, I made an audacious goal just like her. But instead of cooking food in my kitchen for a year, I committed to removing 1 ton of plastic from the ocean in 1 year.
To my astonishment, last week I not only hit my goal of 1 ton, but exceeded it by 1.646 tons. I must say, it brings tears to my eyes just thinking about it.
Every year, over 8 million tons of plastic gets dumped into our ocean. Choking whales, dolphins, turtles, seagulls, and many more marine life creatures and habitats. Having grown up on Long Island and spending many a happy summer by the sea, it’s personal to me.
I remember the day on Conscience Bay my dad told me we couldn’t go clamming anymore.
“Why dad?”
“Because they say there are too many toxins in the bay now. So it’s illegal to clam here.”
I didn’t say anything. But I do remember as my heels sank deep into the sand, so did my heart.
Then, last year while working on a project, I came upon a company in Copenhagen that has devoted the last 6 years to transforming ocean plastic into new packaging. They hired over 180 fishermen to scoop up the plastic with hand nets during their daily fishing trips. When the plastic gets back to shore, it gets sorted, rinsed, deodorized, and pelletized into a resin that gets made into new, amazing packaging. All 100% sustainable and recyclable.
It’s a beautiful thing.
Given my love for the sea, I was so enamored by what they were doing, I approached them and said, how can I help? Turns out they needed help letting companies in the USA know what they were up to — especially on the east coast. So I turned on my New York accent, and set sail to connect, contact, and communicate with as many companies in the beauty market as I could!
I sent thousands of emails and LinkedIn messages. Met with dozens of production heads, engineers, and marketing directors. I even got Colton, my intern, in on the fun.
After 8 months of unwavering determination, my first order came in last week, in the middle of a pandemic. Surface, a sun care brand steeped in the surfer culture (how perfect is that?), christened us with an order that will remove 5291 lbs. of plastic waste from the ocean.
I feel amazed. And humbled. And enthusiastic to make more companies aware of this option. Know of one that would be wild about this sustainable packaging technology? Send them my way and together we can help clean up the ocean so children can enjoy what we enjoyed for years to come.