The Ocean Cleanup’s Post

🙋🏼♂️ Have you ever walked past a piece of litter and not picked it up? 🚮 We've all done it at some point, right.. - I admit, me too. Excusing ourselves with thoughts like; ❌ I shouldn't have to pick up other people's rubbish, it's not my job. ❌ The local council will get that, it's why we pay taxes. ❌ I put my rubbish in a bin or take it home, I'm not part of the problem. 🌊 The Ocean Cleanup continues to inspire me with their amazing efforts! 👏🏼 but, they can't do this alone.... Time to rewire our internal thoughts and hold ourselves accountable; ✅ Pick up an extra piece of litter on a walk or hike, take care of the nature we love. 🌳 ✅ Share good habits with those around you, inspire others with your actions. 🙏🏼 ✅ Be the positive change we want to see, become part of the solution.⚡ #TheOceanCleanup #PositiveChange #GreenCleanEnvironment

Every piece of trash carelessly discarded poses a grave threat to all the species; it contaminates water, is ingested by wildlife, pollutes the environment and affects the climate. Recognizing the urgent need for action, #HCLTechCanada volunteers, in partnership with A Greener Future, undertook a mission to clean up the shoreline at Jack Darling Memorial Park, Mississauga. We cleaned the shores, picking up litter and other pollutants to safeguard and support local marine life and ecosystems.  🐟🌱   Here are some numbers that reflect our collective effort: 👉 36 volunteers, dedicated 72 volunteer hours, collected 3,020 pieces of litter, including cigarette butts, plastic pieces, food wrappers, plastic and metal bottle caps, paper pieces and hygiene items. Impact: ✅ Cigarette butts we collected helped protect 703K liters of water from contamination.  ✅ Plastic pieces we collected prevent 6.6 pounds of plastic from being ingested by wildlife. ✅ Food wrappers we collected divert 7.6 pounds of plastic waste from Lake Ontario.    Thanks to our volunteers and #AGreenerFuture for organizing and supporting this initiative. Let's make a difference one piece at a time and build a sustainable environment.   #SuperchargingProgress #CSRatHCLTech

Rivers are the arteries of our planet! 🌊🌍 It is essential to get the plastics out of our rivers before it harms any more living creature and affects life on the land. To restore our planet, the efforts to counter plastic pollution must be equal to the size of the problem. Local initiatives and global regulations are essential to safeguard our planet from further degradation. Therefore, The Clean Currents Coalition is making a difference. One community and one river at a time. From tackling the seemingly unbeatable mega problem to finally untangling the knots! Waste4Change has also made a significant contributions to river conservation! Waste4Change has participated in several river cleaning projects, including the Citarum Repair initiative. Waste4Change conducted research and provided guidance on waste management in the Citarum River, resulting in the successful capture and management of waste, preventing it from reaching the dams and the sea. What actions can we take? We can sort our waste wisely and collaborate with Waste4Change to ensure plastics doesn't end up polluting rivers and seas. Watch the inspiring journey of The Clean Currents Coalition on full movie: https://bit.ly/43XVYh6 #PlasticPollution #PlasticWaste #ZeroWaste

Watch our new short film about the inspiring work of the Clean Currents Coalition 👉 https://bit.ly/43XVYh6 We are the blue planet 🌍 – rivers, oceans, we depend on them. Getting plastic out of rivers and out of our oceans matters. That’s where we get insight to the problem and where action begins. But how do we turn off the tap of plastic pollution? The goal of the Clean Currents Coalition is to use their projects to drive upstream change so that there isn’t plastic in rivers to be removed in the first place. The Clean Currents Coalition is a network of 8 communities in 8 different countries working collaboratively to clean up rivers in their own backyards. But the Coalition is doing so much more than just capturing and removing plastic from rivers. They are raising awareness of the problem of plastic pollution, amassing the world’s largest database on plastic in rivers, educating and empowering their local communities, and engaging policymakers to make better and more ambitious laws and regulations. A HUGE thank you to 1606 Studio, Roast n' Post, Aaron Huffman, Rafael August, Natalie (Abbene) Pfitsch, Matthew Moresco, Mark David, Ariel Dovas, Doug Walker, Ryan Alexander Kavanaugh, Sarah Porter, Crystal Villamayor, Sean Wells, and many others for their talent, dedication, and passion for bringing the story of the Clean Currents Coalition to life. Marea Verde, Ichthion Limited, Ocean Conservancy, Centre for Marinelife Conservation and Community Development (MCD), WILDCOAST, Chemolex , Smart Villages Research Group, Greeneration Foundation, RiverRecycle, Waste4Change, The Ocean Cleanup, GraceKennedy Ltd., Clean Harbours Jamaica Limited, TerraCycle Global Foundation Tableau, Slack, Salesforce

Why is Beach Cleanup Important? Today, Sneha highlights the importance of beach cleanups for marine life protection: “Debris in our ocean poses a grave threat to marine creatures. Many ingest or become entangled in plastic and other waste, leading to injuries or death.” While we know beach cleanups alone can’t solve plastic pollution, they play a crucial role in reducing immediate harm to marine animals until a more sustainable waste management system is in place. Every cleanup saves lives! This wraps up our series of insights from our dedicated volunteers, each working towards cleaner, safer beaches. #BeachCleanup #MarineLifeProtection #OceanStudentsCommunity #SaveOurOceans #SustainableFuture #Volunteer #ProtectMarineLife #MarineConservation

Why is Beach Cleanup Important? Today, Sneha highlights the importance of beach cleanups for marine life protection: “Debris in our ocean poses a grave threat to marine creatures. Many ingest or become entangled in plastic and other waste, leading to injuries or death.” While we know beach cleanups alone can’t solve plastic pollution, they play a crucial role in reducing immediate harm to marine animals until a more sustainable waste management system is in place. Every cleanup saves lives! This wraps up our series of insights from our dedicated volunteers, each working towards cleaner, safer beaches. #BeachCleanup #MarineLifeProtection #OceanStudentsCommunity #SaveOurOceans #SustainableFuture #Volunteer #ProtectMarineLife #MarineConservation

I don’t directly post often, but when I do, I try to make it meaningful. As we wrap up Plastic Free July, I’d like to strongly suggest to anyone wondering how they can make a positive impact on the planet to read the most recent book by Edward Humes, Total Garbage: How We Can Fix Our Waste and Heal Our World.   It is eye opening and tells a story about how we should look at waste as the root-cause problem of a lot of our global issues, from plastic pollution to climate change.  He opens our eyes to waste-mindfulness (i.e. being less trashy), a personal journey I’ve been on for a long time.  The first book of his that I read, Eco Barons: The New Heroes of Environmental Activism, was instrumental in my thinking with how I founded my own organization to achieve breakthrough conservation outcomes.  Howell Conservation Fund works on root cause issues, similar to what Total Garbage talks about.  I can’t wait to see where insights from Total Garbage take us next!   Total Garbage is so inspirational to me that I will buy a digital copy of the book for the first 10 people that reach out to me about this post! #TotalGarbageBook #SustainableLiving #ZeroWaste #WasteReduction #PulitzerPrize #TrashTalk #CommunityImpact #InspiringReads #PlasticFreeJuly

Finding your purpose being Tames Jan Rietdijk. The purpose I am currently pursuing is to clean rivers from solid waste. This resonates with my name: Tames is the ancient Greek word for River Source, and Jan originates from John (the Baptist), whose signature ritual was to 'cleanse the soul by baptizing people in rivers'. I would say: I was born or named to do what I am currently doing. In the previous 5 years, River Cleanup has demonstrated the power of communities by activating them to reduce plastic leakage around rivers.  In my fantastic 2 years at The Ocean Cleanup (where I found my purpose), I have learned all about the do's and don'ts of successfully deploying plastic waste interception solutions in rivers. It takes both these 2 approaches to realize a systems change and sustainably solve the problem of plastic leakage into rivers. And that's where our combined forces come together: the Clean River Model. As a Theory of Change, this approach aims to i) make rivers plastic-free as soon as possible and ii) accelerate all the system changes that make this permanent. With my more than 20 years of experience in operating trading platforms and financial crime prevention, I intend to create a platform that adds the power of market mechanisms to the power of communities, as a lever to engage new stakeholder groups to help solve the relevant and urgent problem of plastic pollution in rivers. Let's create the safest environment in and around rivers ... together!

🌍🌱 Celebrating Earth Day with a Green Impact! 🌱🌍 As we honor Earth Day, we're proud to spotlight our commitment to environmental sustainability. Our green journey includes initiatives like Angela’s Trees, eWaste recycling, coastal cleanup days, and laptop donations, all contributing to our Green Business Certification. 🌳 Angela’s Trees Initiative In memory of Angela Witmer, our passionate Director of Business Process Improvement, we've made remarkable strides with Angela’s Trees. Since its inception in 2022, we've planted 47,423 trees worldwide, including nearly 23,000 in 2023 alone. We’ve already planted more than 6,000 trees in 2024! 🔄 eWaste Recycling & Laptop Donations Our commitment extends beyond planting trees. We’re actively engaged in eWaste recycling and repurposing electronics, ensuring they have a second life while reducing landfill waste. In fact, our program received the 2023 Sustainability Excellence Award by Evergreen IT Solutions. 🌊 Coastal Cleanups Our teams also participate in coastal cleanup days, preserving the natural beauty and health of marine environments. 💧 Achieving Green Business Certification This certification is not just a title—it’s our promise to exceed environmental standards, prevent pollution, reduce waste, conserve energy, and save water. 🌎 #LanguageLine #LanguageLineSolutions #EarthDay2024 #GreenBusiness #Sustainability #ReduceReuseRecycle