Seaqual Initiative - Winner of the Great Companies Global Business Award - 2023

Business Name: SEAQUAL INITIATIVE

Name: Angel Hereu

Location: Anglès

Establishment (Year): 2016

Category / Industry: 𝐌𝐚𝐧𝐮𝐟𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 & 𝐄𝐧𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠

Sub Category / Sub Industry: Manufacturing

Number of employees: 1-10 employees

Website URL: https://www.seaqual.org/

LinkedIn URL: https://www.linkedin.com/company/seaqual-initiative

Company Detail:

SEAQUAL INITIATIVE is a unique collaborative community fighting plastic pollution by working with clean-up programs around the world to bring value to the waste they recover. SEAQUAL INITIATIVE works with NGOs, clean-up programs, activists, authorities and more to collect waste from the ocean and use the plastic to produce a sustainable, 100% recycled textile solution: SEAQUAL® YARN. Made from 10% marine plastic and 90% post-consumer PET from land sources. Their network of manufacturers and brands buy the yarn to create beautiful products and offer their customers a sustainable alternative with the same good quality and resistance of virgin polyester.

Specialization Product/Services:

they specialize in the upcycling and repurposing of marine litter in the shape of recycled polyester yarn. And, in the process, we make sure to leave a positive impact on the local communities that help make this possible.

Unique Value Proposition:

What makes them different? Their transparency. After researching the market and studying competitors' offers, they realized that while other companies were collecting and creating materials from recycled plastic, something was missing. Other companies work with Ocean Bound Plastic, which refers to plastic that could end up in the ocean, but is usually found up to 50 kilometres inland. This plastic is not yet a significant threat to degrade into microplastics as it has not reached the ocean. That is why SEAQUAL INITIATIVE decided to work directly with plastic that is already in the ocean, addressing the problem from its most critical point. So, while we only have 10% of marine plastic in our yarn, we take pride in being able to communicate that it truly is MARINE plastic, which has been hand-collected from the ocean, rivers and shorelines. Regarding manufacturers, they choose their product for 2 things. First of all, for the reduction that our material has on their overall environmental impact: our SEAQUAL® YARN reduces CO2 emissions by 37%, water consumption by 34% and energy use by 40% in comparison to virgin polyester. The second point is for the amazing storytelling potential that their product offers.

A customer’s review:

Reliable products/services, Best Service, Most innovative products/services, Sustainable and meaningful

Community / Society Service:

They work with local communities from developing areas, which are way more affected by plastic pollution due to less effective waste management systems and because they receive waste from other countries. To help them, they pay the plastic they recover at a higher rate than the market, stable all year round, to ensure that they have a good income and that their work conditions, machines, living conditions, etc. improve. On the other hand, they fund educational workshops both in these local communities but also in their area: Catalonia. For example, they work with Pescaplàstiks, a clown that, through his performances, teaches about plastic pollution and how they can help.