World CleanUp Day: Obeo supports The SeaCleaners to reduce plastic waste
At the time of the World CleanUp Day, the Nantes-based company Obeo has signed a partnership agreement with The SeaCleaners, an association dedicated to the construction of the Manta, the first seagoing vessel capable of collecting and processing in continuous flow large quantities of macro plastic waste floating at the surface of oceans. Committing to a sustainable approach to protect the environment, Obeo will no longer order advertising items and will allocate the budget that was formerly dedicated to these goodies, to The SeaCleaners association.
Obeo, an IT company and member of NantesTech and numerous innovation networks, participates in numerous professional conferences every year.
"Each time, visitors are given advertising objects, which have traveled around the globe, are often of poor quality and will quickly become waste," says Cédric Brun, Obeo CEO. In the light of today's environmental challenges, we must all take our part of responsibility and try to reduce our ecological footprint. That's why we took the bet to stop distributing advertising objects that end up in the trash. "
Looking for a concrete way to move the lines, we discovered the association The SeaCleaners based in La Turballe near Nantes (and the Atlantic Ocean!), and his project of a boat cleaner named "The Manta". As explained on the association website: “The Manta has an optimized maneuverability and large scope which not only allow her to rapidly reach the most polluted areas (many along the coast or estuaries and mouths of the 10 large rivers where 90% of the ocean plastic pollution comes from) but also in areas polluted by a recent weather or natural disaster”. The team on board will also educate and prevent local populations to raise awareness of future generations.
We did not hesitate for a long time to support The SeaCleaners. Indeed, the Obeo adventure was born in Nantes, near the Ocean and many of our collaborators are sea lovers.
Besides, “The [Manta] design has been focusing on many innovative technologies in the field of renewable energy production or by limiting her global carbon footprint maximizing the energy self-sufficiency”.
Last but not least, the boat plans will be Open Source. "As one of the leading companies in Open Source tools dedicated to engineering, this is a value we are deeply attached to," adds Cedric. For all these reasons, the choice of The SeaCleaners quickly became obvious.
A good waste being primarily a waste that has not been produced, Obeo wanted to stop any order of goodies. We will allocate this budget during at least for five years, to the association The SeaCleaners.
"As long as we are," adds Cedric, "we are aware that it is a small step on a limited aspect of our activity. It is the beginning of a more global work and we collectively have a lot to do. We are doing this with humility, but we hope that it will make other companies aware. "
In the meantime, several Obeo employees will be this Saturday, in Nantes, with the volunteers and The SeaCleaners' employees to take part in the waste collection. Indeed, the second edition of World Cleanup Day is taking more and more space with many associations, communities, communities and simply citizens committing to reduce waste and clean up sites.
About The SeaCleaners:
Created in 2016 by the navigator Yvan Bourgnon, The SeaCleaners association aims to combat plastic pollution by acting on three aspects:
1- The construction of a unique ship, sailing clean energy, solar, wind and electric, The Manta. In addition to terrestrial preventive solutions, it is necessary to act at the sea level and collect as close to sources of pollution. The Manta will be able to collect, sort, compact and store in large quantities the waste through a real factory on board.
2- Educate the public with actions in schools, fairs and festivals in France, but also internationally in areas impacted by plastic pollution.
3- A scientific program that aims to identify and study the behavior of macro-plastic waste at sea (zones, density, etc.).
With this global vision, the Manta program will also be an educational tool, a scientific laboratory and a lever for the circular economy of the first order.