After graduating from Florida Atlantic University in 2014 Andrew Cooper and Alex Schulze took a surfing trip to Bali. When they were there they were appalled by the about of trash in the ocean. They saw local fisherman pushing their boats through piles of plastics. After seeing these fishermen struggle to make ends meet and also the disturbance of plastic Alex and Andrew decide to help these fishermen and remove the plastic. In 2017, Andrew and Alex founded 4ocean, which started by hiring these local fishermen to collect plastic instead of fishing. 4ocean began to sell bracelets to help raise awareness and spark a conversation about plastic pollution. As of 10/3/2022, the 4ocean crew has removed over 20 million pounds of trash from the world’s oceans, rivers, and coastlines. To fund the plastic removal efforts, 4ocean sells bracelets. These bracelets are made from 95% recycled materials and have all different colors that represent different animals that live in the ocean like sharks, turtles, dolphins, or seahorses. 4ocean is on track to be able to remove over 1 million pounds of trash in 2022.
As a customer of 4ocean, it’s nice to see this company thrive. I have multiple bracelets from 4ocean and love seeing them give updates about the trash they have pulled out of the ocean. I even follow them on Instagram to see what going on in the company.