4ocean’s Bali Mission: Tackling the Plastic Problem on Beaches
On a recent trip to Bali, I wanted to add an environmental element to our visit. It dawned on me that 4ocean, the company internationally known for turning trash from beaches into bracelets and other products does a significant amount of its cleanup on Bali’s shores, as part of its global operation.
The staff picked us up and gave us an eye-opening look into Bali’s problems with junk on its shores, and their ongoing cleanup efforts.
🌊 4ocean Bracelets: Each purchase pulls 5 pounds of trash from the ocean.
🌊 The company’s closing in on 40 million pounds of garbage cleaned up.
Key Info on 4ocean
- Founded in 2017: 4ocean was established by surfers Alex Schulze and Andrew Cooper after witnessing ocean and beach pollution in Bali, Indonesia.
- Mission: The company is dedicated to cleaning the world’s oceans and coastlines by removing plastic waste and other debris while raising awareness about the ocean plastic crisis.
- Business Model: 4ocean funds its cleanup operations by selling bracelets and other products made from recycled ocean plastics. For every product sold, the company pledges to remove five pounds of trash from the ocean.
- Global Operations: 4ocean conducts cleanup activities in multiple countries, but employs the most local workers in Indonesia, who remove plastics from oceans, rivers, and coastlines.
- Sustainable Products: The company produces a range of sustainable products, including bracelets, reusable water bottles, and apparel, all made with eco-friendly materials.
- Impact: As of 2024, 4ocean has removed millions of pounds of trash from the ocean and coastlines, contributing significantly to the fight against ocean plastic pollution.
Bali’s Beaches: The Plastic Problem
Bali’s beaches are plagued by garbage and plastic pollution for several reasons, related to human activity, waste management issues, and natural factors.
1. Inadequate Waste Management
Bali, like many other regions in Indonesia, struggles with inadequate waste management infrastructure.
The island’s waste management systems are often overwhelmed, especially during peak tourist seasons. Many communities lack proper waste disposal facilities, leading to improper disposal of trash. This waste often ends up in rivers and eventually flows into the ocean, washing up on Bali’s beaches.
In some areas, people still dispose of waste by simply throwing it into rivers. While awareness campaigns are underway to stop the practice, it’s still a big problem.
Bali has experienced rapid urbanization and development, particularly in areas like Kuta, Seminyak, and Canggu. This rapid growth has often outpaced the development of necessary infrastructure, including waste management systems. As more land is developed and natural areas are replaced by urban sprawl, the capacity to manage waste sustainably diminishes.
2. Tourism Impact
Bali is one of the world’s top tourist destinations, attracting millions of visitors each year. The influx of tourists significantly increases the amount of waste generated on the island.
While the tourism industry is vital to Bali’s economy, it also puts immense pressure on the local waste management systems, contributing to pollution on the beaches.
More of Bali’s hotels are adopting eco-friendly policies, but it’s a big mountain to climb.
3. Monsoon Season
During the rainy season, known as the monsoon season (usually from November to March), heavy rains wash trash from rivers and inland areas into the sea.
Ocean currents and winds then push this waste back onto the beaches. This seasonal phenomenon exacerbates the pollution problem, with Bali’s beaches becoming especially polluted during these months.
4. Debris from Abroad
Bali is part of the Coral Triangle, a region in Southeast Asia known for its marine biodiversity. Unfortunately, this region is also one of the world’s worst for plastic pollution.
Ocean currents bring debris from other parts of Indonesia and neighboring countries to Bali’s shores. The island is at the receiving end of the currents, which bring even more pollution to the beaches.
4ocean’s Beach Cleanups
4ocean is a business, so it’s not an opportunity for volunteers to do a beach cleanup while on vacation.
The company hires full-time staff: captains and crew members, who the staff says are fairly paid and also provided with healthcare coverage.
We spent the day with a few of their crews in the Jembrana area, on the western side of Bali. Frankly, what I witnessed was unbelievable.
Ocean currents drop off heaps of trash on the beaches here. After a crew comes through to clean it up, they say the waves will continue to deposit more. The next day, they could come back to the same spot and find it covered again.
They usually work in groups of 7 to 12 people, from 7:00am to 3:00pm.
By mid-year, the beach cleanup crew in the Jembrana area had pulled 120,000 pounds of trash from Bali’s shores.
Another 4ocean team focuses on ocean cleanup efforts in a series of unique boats, outfitted with special garbage-collecting equipment.
4ocean’s River Cleanups
The 4ocean staff says they’ve deployed booms in more than a dozen rivers in Bali, to gather garbage floating down to the ocean.
We met up with one of the river teams in a specially-designed boat.
They usually work from 8:00am to 3:00pm.
I was stunned to see the amount of trash in the river, and even more surprised when they told me the haul the day of our visit was “below average.”
Upriver, we arrived at a bamboo fence in the water, which the crew had cleared recently. It was full of a new round of trash, stuck to the fencing. More garbage wrapped itself around trees in the river.
You can tell: they’ve innovated over the years, and come up with new ways to become more efficient. A prime example is the elevator they had built to carry all of the garbage up on a kind of conveyor belt system.
From the riverboat, the trash is loaded into trucks waiting to take it to a sorting facility.
By mid-year, the river cleanup crew in the Jembrana area had pulled nearly 100,000 pounds of trash from Bali’s rivers.
Sorting the Plastic & Trash from the Beaches
Slightly inland, we found the 4Ocean sorting facility. It’s a big warehouse the company built, where a combination of workers and heavy machinery sort and pack-up all of the garbage hauled in by trucks from the beaches and rivers.
From the giant piles dropped off, it’s sorted into different kinds of plastics, bottles, clothing, tires, and any other kind of junk you can think of. Crews here operate 8-hours a day, 7-days a week.
Much of the plastic is washed and shredded, then dried and bagged as these tiny clear strips.
The stacks of packed blocks of plastic we saw in the warehouse represent about one month’s worth of collected trash.
The plastic is shipped to be processed overseas, then sent back to Bali in the form of giant spools of colored plastic thread to be turned into bracelets.
The 4ocean Bracelet
The 4ocean bracelet is so simple, yet so impressive. The company’s been around less than a decade, and the bracelet is already a globally known symbol of environmental stewardship.
The bracelets sell for between $24 – $29, and they’re all made by local artisans in Bali or Guatemala.
The company employs around 300 people weaving the bracelets, most of them women in villages, looking for an extra source of income for their families.
We met a few of the 4ocean artisans in Jembrana. Each can weave around 50 bracelets a day.
The bracelets come in various colors, with each color often representing a specific environmental cause or marine animal.
For example, a blue bracelet might represent ocean conservation, while a green one could symbolize efforts to protect sea turtles.
The Company: Beyond the Bracelet
4ocean’s straight-forward promise that each bracelet sold funds the removal of 5 pounds of trash from the ocean and coastlines really resonated with consumers, helping the company quickly gain popularity and notoriety.
The company expanded its product line to include other items such as reusable water bottles, apparel, and accessories, all made with sustainability in mind. The success of their products has allowed 4ocean to scale up its operations, leading to the removal of millions of pounds of trash from the ocean.
4ocean has partnered with various environmental organizations and initiatives to amplify their impact. They have also engaged in educational efforts to raise awareness about the ocean plastic crisis, encouraging consumers to reduce their use of single-use plastics and adopt more sustainable practices.
Environmental Certifications
4ocean has earned several environmental certifications and memberships that highlight its commitment to sustainability and responsible business practices. Here are some of the key certifications and memberships:
1. Certified B Corporation
- 4ocean is a Certified B Corporation, which means it meets rigorous standards of social and environmental performance, accountability, and transparency. B Corps are businesses that balance purpose and profit, and they are legally required to consider the impact of their decisions on their workers, customers, suppliers, community, and the environment.
2. 1% for the Planet
- 4ocean is a member of 1% for the Planet, an international organization whose members contribute at least one percent of their annual sales to environmental causes.
3. Ocean Plastic Recovery Certification (OPRC)
4ocean earned the Ocean Plastic Recovery Certification, which verifies that the company actively recovers and recycles ocean plastic.
4. Certified Plastic Neutral by Plastic Credit Exchange (PCX)
- 4ocean is certified as Plastic Neutral by Plastic Credit Exchange (PCX), which means that they recover and recycle as much plastic waste as they produce.
5. Membership in the Sustainable Packaging Coalition (SPC)
- 4ocean is a member of the Sustainable Packaging Coalition, a membership-based collaborative that believes in the power of industry to make packaging more sustainable. The SPC brings together businesses, educational institutions, and government agencies to collectively advance sustainable packaging.
6. Ocean Conservancy’s Trash Free Seas Alliance
- 4ocean is a member of the Trash Free Seas Alliance, an initiative by Ocean Conservancy that brings together leaders from the private sector, conservation, and academia to reduce ocean plastic pollution.
Wrap: My Thoughts After a Day With 4ocean
I’m so glad the crew at 4ocean allowed us to tag along for a first-hand view of their operations. It’s far more advanced and complex than I could’ve imagined.
Really, the scope of the problem is far larger than I could’ve imagined. I assumed the trash came from tourists, and had no idea so much of it is carried in by currents from abroad.
Seeing a newly-cleaned beach get covered again with more trash coming in from the ocean would be incredibly frustrating! Still, the 4ocean crews really have positive attitudes and seem to enjoy knowing they’re making a difference with their work under the hot sun.
