This year's Earth Day theme is.. "Planet vs. Plastic"
In 2023 Ennis Fabrics partnered with SEAQUAL INITIATIVE® to create our Making Waves Collection. We love working with Seaqual Initiative because they are truly making a difference and wanted to give you the story behind what they do.
The SEAQUAL INITIATIVE® is a community of individuals, organizations and companies working together to help clean our oceans. They work with ocean clean up crews around the world to bring value to the waste they recover by transforming it into SEAQUAL® MARINE PLASTIC.
SEAQUAL® MARINE PLASTIC is then blended with other recycled PET and spun into SEAQUAL® YARN. SEAQUAL® YARN is 10% marine plastic and 90% post-consumer PET from land sources.
Why is it important and what is the impact?
Worldwide, there are a growing number of ocean clean-ups working hard to retrieve marine litter from our oceans, beaches, rivers and estuaries.
Ocean clean-ups can be anything from small groups of local volunteers, all the way through to large international programs. They can be one-off beach clean-ups or involve whole communities of fishermen retrieving waste on a regular basis.
These ocean clean-ups collect all types of waste; plastics, metals, glass, rubber, and mixed material items – everything from shoes to refrigerators!
Because mixed waste is expensive to recycle, in the past much of this waste was destined to landfill or incineration. SEAQUAL INITIATIVE is dedicated to giving a second life to this material. At SEAQUAL INITIATIVE they don’t look for materials to recycle, they recycle the materials they find.
This mixed waste is sorted into different material types; materials such as metals and glass are recycled through traditional routes, while organic material and other non-plastics are recycled or disposed of responsibly. Marine plastics are harder to recycle. Although plastics can survive in the ocean for hundreds of years, UV rays, salt water and friction mean they can degrade quickly. SEAQUAL INITIATIVE is dedicated to giving a new life to all types of marine plastic.
The types of plastics found and the ratio of plastics to other materials depends upon many factors, including the type of ocean clean-up, the region and the season. Typically, beach clean-ups have higher percentages of plastics, because the waste has been carried there by the tides; for example, PET water bottles may represent 40% of waste collected on some beaches, but only 5-10% of the waste collected from the ocean floor by fishermen.
Our oceans are our greatest shared natural resource. Together we can clean, repair and protect them.
By supporting SEAQUAL INITIATIVE you are helping to clean our oceans, support local communities and move society towards a circular economy.
SEAQUAL INITIATIVE's® aim is to create a seismic shift in attitude towards sustainability. They are developing a worldwide program to recover plastic waste from the environment and engaging with all industries to transform this resource into new high-quality everyday products. You will be able to choose SEAQUAL certified products from leading brands for every aspect of your life.
#TOGETHERFORACLEANOCEAN
We are honored to partner with Seaqual initiative and be part of their impressive vision and proven impact. If you would like to know more about the SEAQUAL INITIATIVE® and our partnership with them please visit their website here!