Your Bottles

The Prevented Ocean Plastic programme is a global recycling initiative, helping tens of thousands of people around the world to earn their living, clean their coastlines and prevent ocean plastic. By using your ekko debit card, you are doing so much more than “just buying the groceries for the week” or “just paying for the bus”. Your transactions really do have a positive reaction when you’re paying for things using your ekko debit card – and if you’ve got to pay for things anyway, you might as well do some good whilst you’re at it, right?! 

What is Prevented Ocean Plastic? 

“Prevented Ocean Plastic” is high quality, certified and award-winning recycled plastic that has been collected from coastal areas at risk of ocean plastic pollution. According to academic definitions, this ocean-bound plastic would likely end up in our oceans if it weren’t collected for recycling. No one wants oceans full of plastic bottles and once the bottle reaches the ocean, unfortunately it’s often already too late to recycle it, because the sun and salt water degrade the plastic within a few days, making it unsuitable for recycling. That makes removing plastic bottles from the ocean more of a clean-up activity; that’s why Prevented Ocean Plastic works with people globally to get there before that plastic bottle reaches our oceans, so it can be collected, recycled and put back out into a circular economy.  

Sounding good so far? Groovy, let’s take a look at how those bottles you’re saving get collected!  

Saving plastic bottles before they reach our oceans.

Discarded plastic bottles are picked up by plastic collectors from areas at risk of ocean plastic pollution. The bottles are then taken to local collection centres for payment. The bottles are sorted and then pressed for transport to plastic recycling factories. At the factory, the plastic is washed, sanitised and processed into raw material flakes or pellets, according to European and North American quality standards.  

Certified Traceability

The recycled plastic has certified traceability from coastline collection, until it becomes sustainable recycled packaging on your supermarket shelf. Offering you, a better plastic choice.  

Where are my bottles collected from? 

Prevented Ocean Plastic collects bottles from South East Asia, South America, the Galapagos Islands, Mediterranean, Central America and Caribbean.  ekko bottles are collected exclusively from Bali, so when you see your bottle counter going up in the ekko app, think of all the plastic you have prevented from reaching the ocean there and give yourself a high five! If saving the world without breaking a sweat is your bag, simply use your ekko debit card for everyday essential spending and every transaction will have a positive reaction – right on!