There’s a lot of plastic floating around in our oceans, and that’s becoming a big problem, fast! By some estimates, over 5 TRILLION pieces of plastic are in the ocean, of which nearly 300 000 tons floats on the surface.
About 100 000 marine animals are found each year choked by plastic bags and assorted packaging… And that’s only those that are found!
Now, some companies are stepping up to fight this problem in new, creative ways. Among these is a highly successful partnership between environmental organization Parley for the Oceans and sportswear giant Adidas. Parley collects plastic from coastal areas, which is then used by Adidas to manufacture an entire lone of shoes, shorts, tee-shirts, jackets and more.
In 2017, Adidas sold over one million sneakers made from ocean plastic, Business Insider reports. But it doesn’t stop there for Adidas: the company has paired this effort with a global sustainability strategy that includes switching from plastic to paper bags in retail stores, reducing material waste through design improvements and, of course, making shoes and clothes from ocean plastic!
Kudos to these companies for partnering up in the name of sustainability! Let’s hope to see more innovative efforts like this in the future…