Plastic & Trash Removal: Ocean

Ocean Plastic Cleanup: A Necessary Environmental Impact

POUNDS OF PLASTIC & TRASH REMOVED
FROM OUR OCEANS, RIVERS AND COASTLINES.

4Ocean is a for-profit company founded in Boca Raton, Florida, in 2017. 4Ocean retails bracelets made from recycled materials, as well as apparel and other merchandise for which the materials are environmentally- and socially responsibly sourced.

The company uses a portion of the profits generated by bracelet sales to remove one pound of trash from the ocean and coastlines as part of efforts to eliminate plastic pollution in oceans. 4Ocean has cleanup operations based in Florida, Haiti, Guatemala and Bali, 4Ocean has organized volunteer cleanup events in a number of countries. The company has a "One Pound Promise", which promises that, at a minimum, one pound of ocean waste is removed per item sold..

4Ocean was founded by Alex Schulze and Andrew Cooper, who, on a trip to Bali, Indonesia, noticed the beaches were filled with plastic waste; Schulze and Cooper witnessed fishermen pushing their boats through mounds of plastic in order to get to more open waters. Upon learning that plastic waste accumulated on the province's coastlines due to the currents of the ocean, they began to explore ideas of widespread cleanup operations. Schulze and Cooper created a business model that allowed for volunteers to have access to the supplies and resources necessary for the retraction and disposal of waste found in the water and along coastlines.

Although 4Ocean is a for-profit company, they are also a certified B Corporation, a private certification of social and environmental performance for for-profit companies

The ocean acts as a "carbon sink” and absorbs about 31% of the CO2 emissions released into the atmosphere. It holds 60 times more carbon than the atmosphere and absorbs almost 30% of carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions from human activities. Estimates of the precise size of this ‘carbon sink’ vary, but it is a significant factor in slowing global warming. Learn More!

As of 2025, 4Ocean claims to have removed over 41 million pounds of waste from various oceans and coastlines since its inception.

^4ocean.com