The Ecover cleaning products company are looking for tonnes of plastic bottles from the World’s beaches and waterways.  A Dutch organisation called The Plastic Whale Company are supplying them with a ton.  With that recycled ton, Ecover will add it to their ‘Ocean Bottle’ range and the ton will make up 10% of the total recycled material used in the production of 40,000 bottles.  The bottles will be for sale in Holland.  The plastic has been fished out of the canals there.

Ecover’s sister company in the US, Method, are already producing bottles with recycled beach litter, and a Canadian organisation called Plastic Bank are supplying recycled plastic bulk to the Lush company who create hand made cosmetics.  Plastic Bank are employing the World’s poorest ‘rag pickers’ to pick up bottles for them, paying them a decent wage and have just built their first collection centre, in Peru.  The organisation is hoping to transform the poorest of lives-through the recycling of plastic-and so far it seems to be working.  They call their product Social Plastic.

I met up with Tom Domen in Antwerp last week.  Tom Domen is Ecover’s international project manager and is in charge of Ecover’s ‘Ocean Plastic Project.’

http://uk.ecover.com/en/why-ecover/ecover-ocean-plastic-bottle/

He is looking for more plastic bottle beach litter…and I know where there is lots, (don’t we all?!).  Ecover have certain funds to invest in the collection of said ‘resource’, but obviously a fool proof plan needs to be offered to them before they part with any of their cash.

So I am looking into it.  We have the trash.  Unfortunately that’s the easiest part.  We then have to collect it in an easy, efficient and safe manner.  We then have to get it to a recycling plant that will turn the waste into useable plastic.  We then have to find a manufacturer who is able and willing to turn the useable recycled plastic into bottles for Ecover.  If the plastic is collected in the UK then it is the plan to sell the ‘washing up liquid’ bottles in the UK.  Locally sourced/locally sold.  It’s going to take some time.  It’s going to take some organizing.  It’s got to be totally safe and totally efficient.  I have named the project Operation “Perfect Organisation”, and here’s a very poor video which was made this afternoon on Abbotsbury beach in an attempt to attract interest, knowledge and funding.  I will update.  Thanks for reading…and enjoy the video!