100% of every purchase goes to our mission of cleaning the ocean. Here’s where your money goes:

Captains + Crews: We believe in taking care of the people who are taking care of the ocean. All of our captains and crews are full-time employees who receive a real living wage. We also cover all health insurance costs and provide additional benefits and bonus incentives that reward our crews for their passion, dedication, and impact.

Vessels + Equipment: We purchase, own, and maintain all of the vessels, vehicles, tools, and equipment our crews need to do their jobs. From fuel to repairs to customizations that make us more efficient, our crews always have what they need to stay safe and effective because of you.

Facilities + Operations: We operate out of multiple locations around the world. Your purchases ensure that we have dedicated areas where we can meet, store our equipment, and process our recovered materials so they don’t reenter the environment.

Education + Awareness: We’re committed to sharing our knowledge, raising awareness, and inspiring action on behalf of our one shared ocean. From marketing and speaking engagements to community cleanups, your purchases make it possible for us to share our mission with new audiences all around the world and inspire more people to join the clean ocean movement.

Research + Development: There is no playbook for cleaning the ocean. With your support, we’re able to research, design, develop, and invest in promising new solutions to the ocean plastic crisis.

Recovered plastics are transported back to local facilities in Florida, Guatemala, and Indonesia where they are weighed, documented, washed, and sorted by type and color. What happens next depends on the type of plastic:

Some plastics are shredded and/or recycled to create new 4ocean products that fund our cleanups and advance our mission

Some plastics are taken to a local recycling center where they are processed into raw materials that other manufacturers can use to create new products without using virgin plastic

Plastics that can’t be recycled may be extruded and used to create things like plastic lumber

When we’ve exhausted every other option, plastics at the end of their lifecycle are either responsibly landfilled or sent to the Solid Waste Authority in West Palm Beach, Florida—one of the most advanced, efficient, and low-emission waste management facilities in the United States—where it’s converted into energy that powers thousands of homes and businesses in our local community.

Eliminating unnecessary plastics from our lives will always be the best way to both decrease demand for virgin plastics and prevent plastic pollution. But we believe it’s important to acknowledge reality even as we strive toward our ideals.

Cleaning the ocean helps mitigate the worst impacts of plastic pollution because it actively protects marine life, restores critical marine ecosystems, improves water quality, preserves coastal communities, supports global food security, and helps fight climate change by reducing greenhouse gas emissions associated with plastic litter.

Cleanups are also one of the most effective ways to raise awareness about the impacts of plastic pollution and inspire global action on behalf of our one shared ocean. So while they may not solve the ocean plastic crisis, cleanups are still absolutely critical to our mission of ending the ocean plastic crisis.

All 4ocean bracelets are handcrafted by local artisans in Bali and Guatemala with components made from recycled materials, including our recovered ocean plastic.

100% recycled 4ocean Plastic cord

Marine debris recovered by our crews is transported to a local 4ocean facility where PET plastics are sorted from the rest of our recovered materials

Recovered PET plastics are stripped of their labels, hot washed, shredded, melted, and extruded into pre-production plastic pellets (i.e., they’re recycled)

Recycled 4ocean Plastic pellets are sent to our U.S. manufacturing partner where they’re spun into yarn, dyed, and coated in 100% beeswax to preserve the color

100% recycled stainless steel charms

We partner with a manufacturer in China to produce all of our custom bracelet charms from 100% recycled stainless steel

95% post-consumer recycled glass beads

A portion of the glass bottles collected by our crews are mixed with other post-consumer recycled glass to produce the volume we need to satisfy demand

A little bit of raw silica is added to the recycled glass mixture to give our beads strength and durability; note that the addition of the silica is the only reason why our beads are not certified as 100% recycled content

Once formed, the beads are cut to size and a hole is drilled in the center

Handcrafted by local artisans

All recycled material components are distributed to skilled artisans in Bali and Guatemala where they are hand-woven into the variety of intricate patterns found in our bracelet collections

Our artisans carefully collect all discarded cord and beads so they can either be reused or recycled into other bracelets

Third-party certifiedGreenCircle Certified has audited our collection process and supply chain to verify all recovered and recycled material claims.