2022 Impact Report

4ocean was founded on the belief that business can be a force for good and that the actions of individual people, collectively, have the power to change the world. 

Since 2017, we’ve dreamed of a future where humanity grows alongside nature, not at its expense, and have made it our mission to end the ocean plastic crisis. 

But you don’t change the world with a vision or mission alone. 

Truly powerful movements make their impact in the small acts of everyday kindness and care made by ordinary people. And the clean ocean movement isn’t any different. 

We got here together — one conversation, one person, one change, and one pound at a time. Thanks for joining us on this journey. 

We couldn’t do it without you.

The top 10 things you helped us accomplish this year

  • #01

    Thanks to you, our professional, full-time captains and crews pulled over seven million pounds of trash from the world’s oceans, rivers, and coastlines in 2022 alone.

  • #02

    We kicked off the year by celebrating 20 million pounds pulled in January 2022. Then, in September, we hit our new goal of 25 million pounds pulled, which set the world record for the most amount of trash ever recovered from the world’s oceans, rivers, and coastlines.

  • #03

    A dream we’ve had since 2017 also came to life in September when we introduced the first 4ocean bracelet made with 100% 4ocean Plastic cord—the 4ocean Signature Bracelet, of course.

  • #04

    The launch of our new Partnerships Program was a huge step forward in our mission of ending the ocean plastic crisis. Through this program, we’re working alongside the global business community to address the cycle of overproduction and overconsumption that leads to plastic pollution.

  • #05

    We introduced our new Ghost Net Awareness Bracelet to help fund the recovery of abandoned, lost, and derelict fishing gear—the deadliest type of plastic pollution in our oceans today.

  • #06

    Our work on the Osborne Reef Tire Cleanup continued in earnest with the celebration of our most impactful cleanup yet. In August, we recovered 96 tires that weighed a total of 3,680 pounds. 

    Huge shoutout to our friends at Garmin and Halcyon Dive Systems for providing the equipment that helped make this happen.

  • #07

    Curious about the impact of our sustainable swaps, we crunched some numbers and now estimate that our sustainable swaps have prevented over 410 million from entering the global waste stream over the years. Incredible!

  • #08

    We introduced 12 limited edition bracelets to raise awareness about the impact of plastic pollution on marine life. The clean ocean movement’s favorite cause? Olive ridley sea turtles. 

    And clearly you guys have favorites because our original Sea Turtle Bracelet also made our list of Top 10 Awareness Bracelets.

  • #09

    Another 2.6M people joined the clean ocean movement just this year. 

    That’s a total of 8.6M+ people all around the world who are taking action to protect our one shared ocean. Talk about building community!

  • #10

    To date, we have offset our entire carbon footprint by planting 18,200+ mangrove trees and restoring 4,650+ square feet of giant kelp forest in various parts of the world through our partnership with SeaTrees by Sustainable Surf.

The clean ocean movement’s favorite pound pullers this year

Our favorite moments and memories from 2022