Unwrapping the Ocean Plastic Conundrum Via Blockchain

In September, Cointelegraph reported on a Dutch company said to have created the world's first collection of recycled fabrics made from ocean plastics and whose provenance can be traced via blockchain.

Most plastic ocean waste, in other words, is dispersed by the world's poorer countries.

In June, the Plastic Bank, a startup that collects and recycles ocean plastic, opened its ninth plastic recycling center in Indonesia in collaboration with American cleaning supplies company SC Johnson.

The Plastic Bank then sells its recycled plastic flakes or pellets to consumer packaged goods manufacturers as "Social plastic" for a premium.

In early December, Brooklyn blockchain enterprise Bounties Network tested cryptocurrency-based incentives in the Philippines, the world's third-largest emitter of ocean plastic after China and Indonesia.

These efforts appear to offer an ingenious solution to two seemingly intractable problems: poverty in the developing world and ocean plastic waste.

"The blockchain documents and records the journey of plastic waste, step-by-step, to become a finished textile product. This allows Waste2Wear to track recycled materials all the way back to their source, from the fishermen and pickers who collected the plastic up to the final product, and all steps in between. It enables the company to provide their customers with complete transparency, leaving no doubt that all fabrics and textile products are made out of post-consumer plastic waste collected from oceans, and saved from ending up on landfill."

Can the startup really find enough buyers for its recycled plastic - manufacturers who are willing to pay a premium for "Social plastic" - to make a dent in these global problems?

Now, with blockchain systems gaining traction across industries, getting personally involved with cleaning up plastic waste and other sustainable initiatives is becoming a real option for the concerned, everyday citizen.

Only time will tell how big a role blockchain will play in cleaning up plastic waste.