IN “MOCEAN” AGAINST OCEAN POLLUTION
Plastic pollution in the ocean is an undeniable and often overwhelming problem that sailors face wherever they go. Many of us have cleaned beaches and pulled floating plastic debris from the water. But what can sailors do with the plastics to ensure that they don’t end up back in the tide? If you are Nike Steiger and Maria Lapointe, you start In Mocean, an organization focused on raising global awareness about plastic pollution and dedicated to empowering the rural coastal communities affected most.
Sailors Nike and Maria were stranded on board their vessels,
Karl and Joana, in Panama’s Guna Yala archipelago (formerly the San Blas), east of the Panama Canal, during the early days of the pandemic. Unhappy with the plastics they were amassing from the coastlines, they searched for a way to unlock the potential of plastic. Inspired by the open source
Precious Plastics community (preciousplastic.com), they built their own plastic shredder and started a small but productive onboard recycling plant. After shredding, melting and extruding the plastic, they used the recycled product to create new, useful objects, all with the intent of helping clean up plastic waste. In Mocean started working with the small communities where they were finding the waste plastics. They ran workshops with kids in the Las Perlas Islands, creating new, usable objects from waste plastic, and educating about plastic pollution and recycling. They collaborated with local organizations that were also trying to tackle environmental problems.
When lockdown finally ended and they were free to start sailing, the project moved to Costa Rica, where they teamed up with COPROT (Comunidad Protectora de Tortugas de Osa), a turtle conservation organization that collects ocean plastics. Nike and Maria donated their plastic shredding machine to COPROT and helped them set up a recycling program. They trained the new owners on machine maintenance, and helped brainstorm product possibilities while contributing their ideas on fundraising and marketing. They quickly realized that it wasn’t enthusiasm that these rural coastal areas needed to deal with plastic pollution, but rather easy access to information, education and support. And what better way to reach these remote areas than with a fleet of sailors? Today, In Mocean has teamed up with eight sailing vessels to create a global fleet of recycling ambassadors. S/V Delos will be working the Caribbean and Panama; Sailing Uma plans to sail in Iceland and Greenland this season; RAN Sailing will be stopping in the Canaries; the Cruising Kiwis are in Western Australia; Odd Life Crafting is planning to sail Brazil; and Sailing Catalpa is heading to Indonesia. Nike will be on board Karl in Costa Rica and Nicaragua, and Maria and her boat, Joana, are in Mexico. The boats are already popular on Youtube—another channel that the recycling ambassadors will be using to raise awareness about the problem and the program.
Each vessel will be kitted out with a small plastic recycling plant. These machines, designed and created by
Austrian company Plastic Preneur (plasticpreneur.com), will be used for onboard recycling and for the communities ashore, educating and encouraging people in their fight against plastic pollution. In Mocean will continue to create a network of small-scale recycling projects and workspaces that span the globe. They envision a world where plastic is seen as a precious material and creates long-term value, instead of waste that pollutes our oceans. For information and to support the recycling fleet ambassadors, or to work with In Mocean, check out in-mocean.org.