When one thinks of environmentally friendly promotional products – one often thinks of recycled plastic and biodegradable items which compromise the design and performance. This product is real exception.
The concept is to fund the collection of ocean bound waste and to use it in high end product which can provide funds for the whole collection and recycling project. Every ocean bottle prevents 11.4kg of plastic waste entering the sea. That’s equivalent to 1,000 plastic water bottles!
Why is Ocean Plastic so important?
According to Friends of the Earth – ‘The total amount of plastic entering the marine environments is over 12m tonnes a year. For comparison a double decker bus weighs about 12 tonnes.
Sea creatures can get tangles in plastic or mistake it for food and the effects are often fatal. Harmful chemicals linked to plastic have been found in species from plankton to dolphins’
( https://friendsoftheearth.uk/plastics )
The UK public had their attention drawn to the issue by the legendary Sir David Attenborough in his thought provoking film Life on our Planet ( https://attenboroughfilm.com/ ). The media has shown us pictures of turtles entangled in plastic and disturbing images of rivers filled with strewn plastic waste. However it is not just the visible plastic problem but also the micro plastics ingested by marine life killing various sea creatures and ultimately entering the food chain. There is now a recognition that this is a global problem.
Ocean bound plastic is defined as -Plastic waste removed from the environment within 50 kilometres of a coastline. Ocean-bound collection programs motivate local entrepreneurs to recover plastic waste before it reaches the ocean. This may also be called prevented ocean plastic and may be included under the umbrella of recycled “ocean plastic.” - https://sustainablebrands.com/
The ocean bottle project uses the ocean bound plastic in its construction but also helps fund some of the projects worldwide, in particularly in the less developed areas of the world were the problem of ocean bound plastic can be most severe. This is done through the social enterprise Plastic Bank ( https://plasticbank.com/ ) that’s sole purpose is the collection of ocean bound plastic and claims to have so far recovered in excess of one billion bottles which would have otherwise entered our seas.
The Ocean bottle
Using ocean bound plastic in a promotional item might, for some, have been sufficient to provide an innovative and attractive product, but this bottle goes further. Using designers with a real eye for the elegant they have created a design aimed to challenge the likes of Yeti and Chilly. The bottle is not cheap at around £40 retail, compared to a Chilly at around £30, but the result of some superior design thought is an elegant product which anyone would be pleased to receive.
Not too surprisingly, the bottle has won awards including a Green Product Award for its environmental impact but also a Red Dot Design award for designer Marius Andresen of K8 Industridesign, Oslo. ( https://k8.no/ ).
The advantage for the marketer of this eco-friendly promotional product is that the back story is remarkable and it provides a big plus to the sustainability credentials of any company. A fact not lost on some of the customers which include Google, Mercedes, WebEx and EY. The successful campaigns from these brands have been careful to not only brand the bottle but have provided the receiver with the full story, so that they can feel a part of the project.
Made in Shanghai in a state of the art factory that nailed its SMETA audit (reference 10182431052) and has a 15,000 m2 solar system.
The bottles are always shipped or sent by rail freight and when sent by air the manufacturer pays extra towards carbon offsetting. We are happy to provide you with more information should you need it, transparency is the way forward here.
The product comes in a range of 6 tasteful colours which reflect the environment – Sky, Sun, Forest, Ocean, Rock and Obsidian. The choice of muted tones is no accident and is in keeping with the bottle shape and the personality of the design.
The co-branding has to follow strict guidelines with laser engraving to an area on the opposite side of the Ocean Brand logo – but the guidelines do not feel restrictive. It would be a crime to take an award winning design and ruin it with careless co-branding.
And Finally
Pavilion is not claiming that all other bottles are not environmentally worthy. Indeed any re-useable bottle, whatever its nature, is far better than a single use plastic bottle. And there are some great bottle products including those made from re-cycled plastic and sugar based bio-plastics which are fully biodegradable. In the right campaign these much cheaper alternatives provide a great solution.
What struck Pavilion was the blend of environmental credentials and award winning design.
