Clean Oceans International, originally The Clean Oceans Project, is an ocean-oriented

environmental organization An environmental organization is an organization coming out of the conservation or environmental movements that seeks to protect, analyse or monitor the environment against misuse or degradation from human forces. In this sense the environme ...

founded in 2009 as an IRS 501c3

public benefit corporation Public-benefit corporation may refer to several types of corporate entity: United Kingdom * public benefit corporation, the legal form of NHS foundation trust United States * Benefit corporation or public-benefit corporation, for profit but with ...

. Clean Oceans International seeks to reduce

plastic pollution Plastic pollution is the accumulation of plastic objects and particles (e.g. plastic bottles, bags and microbeads) in the Earth's environment that adversely affects humans, wildlife and their habitat. Plastics that act as pollutants are catego ...

in the oceans through a comprehensive global approach that includes research, technical innovation, public awareness, and efficient plastic waste management. COI is based in

Santa Cruz, California Santa Cruz (Spanish language, Spanish for "Holy Cross") is the largest city and the county seat of Santa Cruz County, California, Santa Cruz County, in Northern California. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the city population ...

on the

Santa Cruz Harbor The Santa Cruz Small Craft Harbor (also "Santa Cruz Harbor", but see Santa Cruz Harbor#Santa Cruz Anchorage, below) is situated in Santa Cruz, California, on the site of the former Twin Lakes, California, Woods Lagoon. Built in 1962–1963, its ...

, gateway to the

Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary (MBNMS) is a federally protected marine area offshore of California's Big Sur and central coast in the United States. It is one of the largest US national marine sanctuaries and has a shoreline length ...

Plastic-to-fuel conversion strategy

Approximately 80 percent of

marine plastic pollution Marine plastic pollution is a type of Water pollution, marine pollution by Plastic pollution, plastics, ranging in size from large original material such as bottles and bags, down to microplastics formed from the Fragmentation (cell biology), frag ...

is generated from single-use

polymer A polymer () is a chemical substance, substance or material that consists of very large molecules, or macromolecules, that are constituted by many repeat unit, repeating subunits derived from one or more species of monomers. Due to their br ...

products that originate from land-based sources. Clean Oceans International (COI) promotes conversion of the plastic waste into valuable liquid fuels, including

gasoline Gasoline ( North American English) or petrol ( Commonwealth English) is a petrochemical product characterized as a transparent, yellowish, and flammable liquid normally used as a fuel for spark-ignited internal combustion engines. When for ...

diesel Diesel may refer to: * Diesel engine, an internal combustion engine where ignition is caused by compression * Diesel fuel, a liquid fuel used in diesel engines * Diesel locomotive, a railway locomotive in which the prime mover is a diesel engine ...

, and

kerosene Kerosene, or paraffin, is a combustibility, combustible hydrocarbon liquid which is derived from petroleum. It is widely used as a fuel in Aviation fuel, aviation as well as households. Its name derives from the Greek (''kērós'') meaning " ...

, using plastic-to-fuel conversion technology.

environmental engineering Environmental engineering is a professional engineering Academic discipline, discipline related to environmental science. It encompasses broad Science, scientific topics like chemistry, biology, ecology, geology, hydraulics, hydrology, microbiolo ...

company. COI plans to educate local communities and create a financial

incentive In general, incentives are anything that persuade a person or organization to alter their behavior to produce the desired outcome. The laws of economists and of behavior state that higher incentives amount to greater levels of effort and therefo ...

for them to

recycle ReCycle is a music loop editor designed and developed by Sweden, Swedish software developers Propellerhead Software. It runs on Microsoft Windows and Apple Macintosh based Personal Computer, PCs. The software debuted in 1994. The principal idea ...

plastic, keep their shorelines clean, and minimize plastic waste.

Research efforts

COI is conducting research with nonprofit, academic, and government organizations including the

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA ) is an American scientific and regulatory agency charged with Weather forecasting, forecasting weather, monitoring oceanic and atmospheric conditions, Hydrography, charting the seas, ...

and the

Turtle Island Restoration Network Turtle Island Restoration Network (TIRN) is a United States 501(c)(3) non-profit organization founded in 1999 whose mission is "To take swift and decisive action to protect and restore marine species and their habitats and to inspire people in comm ...

Education

COI is also working in collaboration with the Cabrillo Community College science department on an ocean debris survey pilot program.

References

External links

* {{Official website, cleanoceansinternational.org 501(c)(3) organizations Environmental organizations based in California Environmental organizations established in 2009 Non-profit organizations based in California