Funding provided to Ocean Legacy Foundation for pollution clean-up expeditions, diverting waste from landfills and promoting circularity in the waste sector.

We’re proud to announce that we will be providing a five-year annual grant of $30,000 to Ocean Legacy Foundation (OLF). The funding will be used to support OLF scrap tire clean-up expeditions across British Columbia. 

“Ocean Legacy Foundation is an important partner of ours and we’re delighted to offer them our support over a multi-year period,” said Rosemary Sutton, Executive Director, Tire Stewardship BC. “They’re doing important work to protect our oceans, combat pollution in our communities, and divert waste from landfills. For example, in 2022, OLF removed over 2,400 scrap tires from a small island off the Sunshine Coast of B.C., and the tires were sent to a tire recycling facility in Delta, B.C. Our scrap tire recycling program is one of the most successful in North America and the oldest recycling program in Canada. Since the program was first established in 1991, over 100 million tires have been recycled, and every year the equivalent of over five million scrap vehicle tires are recycled into new products.”

Related: Tire Island Cleanup by Ocean Legacy Foundation

Ocean Legacy Foundation, initiated in 2013, is a Canadian non-profit organization that develops and implements worldwide plastic pollution response programs, with the goal to end ocean plastic pollution. They combine sustainable technologies, education, and skills training to convert plastic pollution into economic value while providing local communities with the tools they need to prevent plastic pollution and protect their local environment. 

“Ocean Legacy Foundation is the only organization that accepts foam-filled tires from beach cleanups and dock deconstructions. They remove the foam from the tires and then we’re able to recycle them. Prior to their help with the foam removal, these tires ended up in our landfills,” added Sutton. “What is also great about our partnership with Ocean Legacy Foundation and these clean-up expeditions is that the scrap tires that are collected in B.C. are also processed and re-purposed in the province, contributing to the circular economy.”

“This funding will allow us to assist more communities in physically removing pollution from ecologically sensitive environments so that we can create cleaner and safer places for wildlife, communities and eco-tourism,” said Chloé Dubois, Executive Director, Ocean Legacy Foundation. “Together with Tire Stewardship BC, we look forward to cleaning up more of our beautiful province and keeping our landfills and oceans cleaner. “

About Ocean Legacy Foundation
Initiated in 2013, Ocean Legacy Foundation (OLF) is a Canadian, internationally recognized, non-profit organization that develops and implements worldwide plastic pollution response programs, with the goal to end plastic pollution. OLF combines sustainable technologies, education, and skills training to convert plastic pollution into economic value while providing local communities with the tools they need to prevent plastic pollution and protect their local environment. EPIC Academy is part of the OLF’s EPIC Plastic Pollution Emergency Response™ program, which takes a  four-pillar approach to identify, cleanup, and prevent plastic waste from entering tributary and marine  ecosystems. The four pillars are Education & Research, Policy & Advocacy, Infrastructure Development, and Cleanup & Restoration (“EPIC”). The purpose of EPIC is to create an accessible platform to assist with  the restoration of critical natural ecosystems for improved human and wildlife health, as well as assess  and develop long-term plastic collection, processing infrastructure and policy to mitigate oceanic plastic  pollution sources. We have collected over two million pounds of plastic waste from over 1000 kilometres  of shoreline around the world and have engaged hundreds of thousands of individuals in plastic  pollution cleanup, education, and recycling activities. For more information visit www.oceanlegacy.ca.

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Callandre Peters
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