The clean up effort has supported hundreds of local jobs in Indonesia, boosted over 60 local families with living wages and fair working conditions, and puts Not Soda well ahead of schedule in its mission to remove the weight of five million plastic bottles worth of ocean plastic by 2025.
Lo Bro’s impact-led drinks brand Not Soda has officially removed 17,000kg of plastic from the ocean, equivalent in weight to one million plastic bottles, and representing the weight of a “humpback whale”, in a major effort to clean up our seas.
In a strong effort with Seven Clean Seas, the equivalent weight of one million plastic bottles (17,000kg of ocean plastic), have been removed from the islands of Batam and Bintan within Indonesia. These islands are some of the worst affected areas globally when it comes to ocean plastic. The two sites were selected based on their severe, and growing, situation of plastic pollution and lack of adequate waste management infrastructure.
The recovered ocean plastic will now be sent for sorting, separating and classification at Seven Clean Sea’s Materials Recovery Facility (MRF), where it is then recycled and repurposed into the circular economy or sent for secondary processing where necessary. Research and development is also conducted on recovered ocean plastic to improve and enhance recyclable methods in future.
The clean up effort by Not Soda and Seven Clean Seas has also supported hundreds of local jobs in Indonesia, boosted over 60 families across the targeted areas with living wages and fair working conditions. This is a huge component of Seven Clean Seas’ community sustainability practices as it affords all staff members with fair leave entitlements.
Removing the equivalent weight of one million plastic bottles from the ocean is the first chapter in a large-scale cleanup by Not Soda, who last year pledged to remove the equivalent weight of five million plastic bottles in ocean plastic (170,000kg) from the seas by 2025, putting the impact-led soft drinks brand way ahead of schedule. For every can of Lo Bros Not Soda sold, Lo Bros’ funds the removal of the equivalent weight of two plastic soft drink bottles from marine environments through its partnership with Seven Clean Seas. Not Soda funds the removal of the equivalent weight of two plastic bottles, but the plastic removed encompasses all forms of ocean plastic in the area.
The weight of a plastic bottle (a 375ml plastic soft drink bottle and cap) is 17 grams. This means Seven Clean Seas removes 34 grams of plastic for every 375ml can of Not Soda sold.
Independent retailers Ritchies and Drakes have been the first to get behind the effort, with a joint goal to clean up two million plastic bottles from our oceans by 2025.
Every year, up to 34 billion plastic bottles enter the ocean. In Australia, 75% of all beverage aluminium (ie. cans) are collected for recycling. Unlike plastic which can only be recycled 1-3 times before degrading and sent to landfill, aluminium is infinitely recyclable.
Plastic pollution is detrimental to our oceans and the situation is only worsening. A recent report in the scientific journal PLOS ONE found an estimated 171 trillion pieces of plastic are now floating in the world’s ocean, an increase from 16 trillion pieces in 2005. Scientists have warned it could nearly triple by 2040 if no action is taken.
Seven Clean Seas, Co-founder, Tom Peacock-Nazil, says “The seas are f***ing awesome, and they’re filled with plastic! Luckily our mates at Lo Bros share our love for the ocean and partnered up Not Soda with Seven Clean Seas to do something about it! Now, after only a handful of months into the partnership, we’ve already hit an incredible million-bottle ocean cleanup milestone.
Together, we’re embracing bold flavours and even bolder environmental actions, all to protect our planet’s precious seas. Not Soda’s recyclable aluminium cans are the perfect match for our mission and this partnership is proof that our daily choices can lead to healthier bodies and cleaner oceans. Plastic pollution, consider yourself on notice!”
Australian entrepreneur and Lo Bros Founder, Didi Lo – an esteemed changemaker who has been
championing ‘doin’ good’ for nearly 20 years – continues to be on a mission to disrupt the drinks industry with this bold initiative.
Lo says, “Plastic pollution continues to rise and disadvantaged nations remain the ones bearing the brunt of this issue. Seven Clean Seas, with the aid of Not Soda, has done exceptionally well to reach this goal of recovering the equivalent weight of 1 million plastic bottles from these waterways. It is critical that we acknowledge this achievement, but we also realise how far we have to go to remove all plastic from our oceans to protect them from environmental disaster.”
Lo Bro’s is officially a Net Zero Plastic Brand, through its partnership with Plastic Collective. While Lo Bros stands firmly against single-use plastic bottles, the audit by Plastic Collective measured the company’s own plastic footprint globally, including all packaging, warehousing and freight, bottle cap seals and pallet wrap. Post the audit, a reduction plan has been put in place to reduce the amount of plastic used, as well as all unavoidable plastic being offset through Plastic Collective.
Lo Bros Not Soda is a refreshing, impact-led fizzy soda. It is available in four crowd favourite flavours: Raspberry, Lemon, Orange, and Pink Grapefruit. All are zero sugar and naturally sweetened. Try out Not Soda, available at Ritchies, Drakes and Independent supermarkets across Australia.
