An estimated 100.000 marine animals are losing their lives to ocean plastic every year. Here’s why ThankU supports Seven Clean Seas and their hands-on activities to rid the world of ocean plastic.
Seven Clean Seas started in 2018 as a small beach cleanup community based in Singapore. Only three years later, they organize monthly coastal clean-ups in five countries, hold educational talks, work with responsible companies and help fellow ocean lovers all over the world do the same. To date, more than 3.800 volunteers have helped to remove almost 70 tonnes of ocean plastic from the beaches of Southeast Asia.
If we don’t act, 50 kg of plastic waste for each coastline meter will pollute the oceans globally by 2040.
— Seven Clean Seas
Fighting against a lack of infrastructure and knowledge
While cleaning the marine environment is Seven Clean Seas’ core mission, the organization also funds conservation projects to protect all the wonderful life that calls seas and oceans home. Awareness of the problem’s enormity is key to achieving plastic-free oceans, so they provide education on marine protection and responsible plastic consumption to the front lines.
If we could find a commercial way to clean the oceans, then we could allow capitalism to take over and make it profitable for many people to engage in this activity. To us, this is essential in helping to tackle the problem on a global scale.
— Tom Peacock-Nazil, Co-Founder and CEO of Seven Clean Seas
Seven Clean Seas is partnering with companies that feel responsible for offsetting the plastic they produce by manufacturing and selling their products. This way, the corporate world finances infrastructure needed to remove existing plastic waste from the seas and prevent more plastic from polluting the marine environment.
Seven Clean Seas acts locally and thinks globally
We at ThankU believe that every little step counts. Starting small with a personal commitment, leading by example, sharing what you’ve learned, and showing others a way to step in. Just the way Seven Clean Seas is doing in Southeast Asia by organizing events where locals and tourists grab a bucket and pick up litter from beaches.
At the same time, Seven Clean Seas addresses the root of the issue by educating people and building infrastructure to tackle plastic waste at a larger scale. These activities require funds that the private-sector economy can provide. We believe that enabling for-profit corporations to offset the plastic waste they cause raises awareness of plastic waste killing marine life. These companies will naturally talk about their engagements. A desirable side-effect is a rise of consciousness and a beginning mind-shift in people worldwide — one kilogram of removed ocean plastic at a time.
