Plastic Odyssey and Crédit Agricole renew their partnership

© Plastic Odyssey
19 tons of plastic enter the ocean every minute. Yet this waste can be an invaluable resource! Making recycling this waste a profitable and job-generating activity: that's the challenge facing the Plastic Odyssey team. Merchant Navy officers, a sales manager, and an engineer, these young entrepreneurs decided to build an ambitious project to raise awareness about plastic waste recycling and share expertise with emerging countries.
An expedition to share low-tech and open-source plastic recycling technologies
For three years, the Plastic Odyssey team will sail the world's seas on a ship to fight plastic pollution. The expedition will stop in emerging countries to encourage local waste reduction initiatives and the creation of small recycling plants. At each stop, Plastic Odyssey will share low-tech and open-source recycling technologies to foster the development of micro-entrepreneurship and the circular economy. Training in plastic sorting and recycling will also be offered.
This project does not aim to collect plastic present in the oceans but to act upstream, by working with local populations on depollution solutions, so that land-based waste does not end up in the oceans.
The first ship to move forward thanks to recycled plastic
The ship will be ready to sail in the second half of 2020. Measuring 40 meters in length, it will run on fuel made from plastic waste using a pyrolysis plant installed at the rear of the boat: a first in the field of navigation.
For 3 years, he will successively travel the coasts of Africa, Latin America, and Asia to raise awareness of plastic pollution in the oceans, encourage the reduction of plastic and its recycling, and transform plastic waste into resources.
The fight against plastic pollution: a major societal issue
The fight against plastic pollution is a concern that Crédit Agricole shares with Plastic Odyssey. The Group was already a partner of Plastic Odyssey in 2018, during the prototyping phase of the project. Crédit Agricole, through 16 entities(1), is continuing this commitment by supporting Plastic Odyssey's initiative with €1.2 million over 5 years. The support provided for this expedition is in line with the Crédit Agricole Group's Social Project.
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