The Ocean Race and Archwey Partner to Tackle Marine Plastic

The Ocean Race, the world’s toughest test of a team in sport, and sustainable materials specialist Archwey, have announced a new partnership to inspire action to combat plastic pollution in the seas.

The purpose-driven partnership combines The Ocean Race’s award-winning sustainability programme, developed with Founding Partner 11th Hour Racing and dedicated to restoring ocean health, with Archwey’s mission to rid the world of virgin plastic and raise awareness of the urgent need for a circular economy, in which materials and products are shared, reused, repaired and recycled for as long as possible.

As an official partner of the Race and an Official Plastic-free Ocean Partner, Archwey will partake in key elements of The Ocean Race’s work to protect the seas, including The Ocean Race Summits. This series of events, held across the world, brings together decision-makers and ocean advocates to drive new and improved policies to tackle the issues affecting the marine world and explore how ocean rights could help to safeguard it.

The announcement comes ahead of the start of The Ocean Race 2022-23, which sets sail from Alicante, Spain, on January 15th. Throughout the round-the-world competition The Ocean Race will use its platform to raise awareness of the issues affecting the ocean and the solutions needed to tackle them within Ocean Live Park, the dedicated event space that will be created in nine cities across the world.

The collaborators will also work together to highlight The Ocean Race’s One Blue Voice campaign, which has an ambitious goal of securing a Universal Declaration of Ocean Rights by 2030.

Race Chairman of The Ocean Race Richard Brisius said: “Single-use plastic is having a devastating impact on the ocean. Breaking the world’s dependency on this material can only happen through innovation and collaboration, which is why we’re delighted to partner with Archwey, a company leading the way in creating alternatives to virgin plastic and pushing for a circular economy. Together we can race towards making our shared vision of a healthy ocean a reality, even faster.” 

Archwey is dedicated to tackling marine plastic by pioneering alternative sustainable materials for products ranging from coathangers to pharmaceutical products. 

Archwey CEO Sjoerd Fauser said: “We know how to win. By removing ocean-bound plastic waste from our rivers and coasts, and using waste as the building blocks for a fully recycled and recyclable alternative, BLUEWAVE®, we can both stop the use of virgin plastic and clean up the oceans. This is Archwey’s definition of circularity.” In the last 18 months, Archwey has cleared and recycled 32,500 tonnes of plastic waste.

“With over 14 million tons of plastic waste dumped in the ocean every year, there’s not a minute to lose in the race to save our seas. The Ocean Race shares our commitment to sustainability and restoring the health of the oceans. We are thrilled to be partnering with them.”

The collaboration supports The Ocean Race’s Racing with Purpose sustainability programme, which was developed with founding partner and Premier Partner of the race 11th Hour Racing and aims to improve ocean health with a diverse range of audiences, including driving action around ocean plastic. This includes pushing decision-makers on plastic policy, cutting single-use plastic in race villages, equipping teams with onboard scientific equipment to measure microplastics in the water as they race and inspiring children to take action through Learning programmes that have reached more than 180,000 students across the world.

Main image credit: Three of the teams that will compete in The Ocean Race 2022-23 © Vincent Curutchet /IMOCA.