Achieving Zero Plastic Oceans ZPO certifications furthers company’s commitment to building world class recycling infrastructure in the Dominican Republic and reliable, trustworthy supply chains from the Caribbean

Ocean Recovery Group (ORG), a Florida based social-business enterprise that leverages over 100 years of recycling-industry experience to better collect, clean and recycle ocean-bound plastics has become the first United States-headquartered company to achieve Zero Plastic Oceans’ distinguished Ocean-Bound Plastic Certifications for collection, recycling and neutralization.

The Ocean-Bound Plastic Certification from Zero Plastic Oceans signals to our partners and stakeholders that our efforts to reduce ocean-bound plastics are certified, audited and sustainable,” said Ocean Recovery Group President, Zachary Kirstein. “We are proud to bring recycling infrastructure to the Dominican Republic, a country currently only recycling 8% of its waste.

Ocean Recovery Group’s La Vega, Dominican Republic, facility boasts state-of-the-art processing equipment including a 2-ram Max Pack Baler, 7 Vertical Balers and 2 complete plastics lines including a friction washer, shredders, sink tanks, steamers and pelletizers. The facility, which began processing in February 2022, also separates and bales PET, HDPE (natural and color), PP and LDPE plastics as well as cardboard and paper-grade recyclables. In 2022, Ocean Recovery Group’s integrated-recycling operation goal is to collect, recycle and neutralize 12,000 Tons of ocean-bound plastic.

Control Union is proud to have served as certification body to Ocean Recovery Group in their Ocean Bound Plastic journey,” said Gabriela Santos, Program Coordinator at Control Union. “Besides their important recycling activities in the Dominican Republic – Control Union appreciates how Ocean Recovery Group has remained readily available and transparent during the full certification process.

The Ocean-Bound Plastic (OBP) Certification is designed to encourage the removal of Ocean Bound Plastic from the environment by adding value to effectively collecting and treating it to prevent it from reaching the ocean. To achieve the certification, applicable organizations must first prove: OBP plastic waste is collected adequately and ethically; OBP plastic waste is well managed once collected; commercially recyclable OBP waste is traceable until the final product; and, non-commercially recyclable OBP waste is correctly handled, and are thoroughly verified and traceable. In addition, OBP-certified organizations guarantee the respect of social criteria, including a commitment to no child labor, safe working conditions and fair wages for recycling collectors.

Zero Plastic Oceans welcomes the certification of Ocean Recovery Group to the Ocean Bound Plastic standards for the collection, recycling and neutrality value chains,” said Vincent Decap, Co-Founder of Zero Plastic Oceans. “By choosing to certify these value chains, ORG will bring a concrete solution to the Dominican Republic for both commercially recyclable and no value plastic at the same time, ensuring a cleaner environment and enhanced social benefits to the waste picking communities.

About Ocean Recovery Group

Ocean Recovery Group is working to solve the planet’s ocean-bound plastic crisis in the Western Hemisphere. Our extensive knowledge across the recycling and packaging industries, paired with our commitment towards greater good, enables Ocean Recovery Group to effectively and efficiently divert large and scalable amounts of ocean-bound plastics to help CPG retailers achieve their plastic neutrality goals.

About Zero Plastic Oceans

Created in 2019, Zero Plastic Oceans is a non-governmental organization (NGO) dedicated to addressing plastic pollution issues. The organization was born from the observation that most plastic waste ending up in the ocean comes from abandoned plastic waste, the so-called “Ocean Bound Plastic” (OBP). ZPO has set the Ocean Bound Plastic certifications as a mean to incentives the collection of OBP for its recycling or proper disposal.

Over the last year, Zero Plastic Oceans and Control Union teamed up to control and certify 9 companies in India, making it the country having received the highest number of Ocean Bound Plastic (OBP) certifications. This great interest in OBP certifications reflects the regional willingness of industries and NGOs to take action against plastic pollution.

One year after the launch of the OBP certifications, 9 Indian companies have been certified, of which 5 applied to the OBP recycling standard and 4 to the OBP collection standard. Granted for one year, the certifications assert the proper collection and management of Ocean Bound Plastic, as well as its recycling into new products.

Some certified companies are integrated collectors, recyclers & convertors of recycled materials to packaging & products, like Lucro (recycled LDPE, LLDPE, PP & HDPE) and Dalmia Polypro (recycled PET and recycled polyester fibers) some are dedicated to collection only like Plastic for Change and some are focused on the transformation of recycled material into products like Polygenta Technologies (recycled yarn), Alliance Fibres (recycled fibers) or Mon Export (bags and accessories).

Through this growing diversity of actors India can offer fully certified end products from Ocean Bound Plastic.

 

The need to do our bit to stop the flow of plastic into our oceans made us seek out for this OBP certification which was very thorough in evaluating our supply chain right from sourcing of Ocean bound plastic to final conversion of recycled granules to product. The intensive audit also verified our traceability across the supply chain & inspected fair trade policies such as the absence of child labour, fair treatment/payments to employees & waste-pickers. We have been collecting about 10 mt of ocean bound plastic waste every month since the certification & converting most of the waste to recycled resin & products such as PP rafia bags & garbage bags. We hope that going ahead this certification will help us enable a number of brands to replace virgin plastic with ocean-bound recycled plastic- thereby help them become more sustainable, explains Varun Karasia, CEO of Lucro.

Since 2016, India has stated its will to “give thrust on plastic waste minimization, source segregation, recycling, involving waste pickers, recyclers and waste processors in collection of plastic waste”. To implement this project, various initiatives have been settled such as the prohibition of imports of solid plastic waste and awareness campaigns on single use plastics.

However public policies are not sufficient to reduce the amount of plastic waste in the country. According to the National Central Pollution Control Board, the country is generating around 26,000 tonnes of plastic waste a day, out of which 60% of plastic produced is collected. The 40% left is mismanaged, open air burned, in nature and drifting in rivers and oceans.

 

The OBP certifications provide an easy tool to promote the removal of Ocean Bound Plastic from the environment. They complement governmental directives, allowing private or associative actors to be recognized for their commitment, explains Vincent Decap, Co-founder of Zero Plastic Oceans.

A sustainable management of waste through community empowerment and multi-stakeholder approach, is necessary for ocean preservation. Through the Ocean Bound Plastic certifications, communities and industries are given the opportunity to address urgent gaps in plastic waste management.