REmove: Making Sure Waste Disappears From the Environment and Never Returns
Through our REmove initiative, we assume responsibility for plastic which already exists in the environment and is therefore outside of recycling loops. Already today, there are about 700 plastic parts for every person in the world's oceans – and unfortunately, this trend continues to rise, since the EU alone increases this amount by 500,000 tons each year. Large quantities of these unused recyclable materials are transported into seas through rivers.
We Therefore Established REmove to Pursue Two Primary Goals
The first focus is on the removal, collection and recycling of recyclables already in the environment - especially plastics.
To that end we rely on global cooperations with a variety of partners – ranging from NGOs to local governments – in the hot spot regions of Asia. In addition, our national companies are locally engaged through a wide variety of REmove activities.
"Stop the Tap"
On top of that, REmove aims at preventing materials from reaching the environment in the first place. Our guiding principle here is to "Stop the Tap".
Because once recyclable materials do reach oceans (ocean plastic = OP), the costs to remove them become enormous. We therefore begin our efforts at an even earlier point, focusing especially on ocean bound plastic (OBP). OBP refers to plastic waste which is disposed of in the natural environment and reaches oceans by mistake through rain, wind and tides, because of lacking infrastructures for collection and recycling. This is the primary source of marine pollution.
Areas at high risk of ocean bound plastic include waterways and coastal areas at distances of up to 125 miles from seashores. Effective measures for protecting oceans can be implemented just here, which we do by establishing effective collection systems on land which integrate plastic waste within permanent recycling processes.
The common feature shared by all our projects is that the Schwarz Group doesn't just provide financial support, but also acts as a thematic project partner and often as an initiator of concepts as well. REmove partnerships are anything but mere sponsoring activities; they involve working together on joint projects as partners at eye level.
