ocean-i™’s fun and funky urban furniture has been designed with ocean-impact top of mind. Our proudly South African products are manufactured from either 100% recycled plastic or high performance concrete incorporating recycled plastic and cigarette butt ‘sand’. Our designs challenge convention and will transform the way you think about outdoor designer urban furniture.
Popular documentaries such as Netflix’ ‘My Octopus Teacher’ & David Attenborough’s Earth Series II have brought the wonder as well as the plight of the oceans into our living rooms. Land-borne ocean bound plastic pollution is one of the biggest threats to ocean life, and with 2 of the 1000 most plastic polluted river/canal systems on earth being found in beautiful Cape Town, the South African coastlines and oceans have not been spared.
Furthermore, cigarette butts (which are toxic to marine life and the filter being non-biodegradable) have been found to be the most littered plastic item collected in urban and coastal clean-ups, with over 15 billion butts being thrown away in South Africa alone every year, ending up in storm water channels, on beaches, and in the ocean.
The cost associated with removing this plastic and cigarette butt litter from waterways is exorbitant, and it is typically non-recyclable via conventional plastic recycling methods.
ocean-i™ has therefore developed an innovative circular business-unusual-model to create positive ocean-impact.
- We work with respected South African designers and technology partners to bring you an exciting range of quality high-end designer outdoor urban furniture
- Our products are manufactured locally from 100% post-industrial plastic waste or high performance concrete
- Our butt bins are sold with service contracts by which the cigarette butt litter is recovered
- We are the first, internationally, to then have the butts processed with other mixed plastic waste that we collect from river & canal banks, into a recycled plastic and cigarette butt ‘sand’ which we use as raw material back into our concrete products
- We thus reduce the amount of waste that would typically find its way into landfills and the oceans and provide a zero-waste circular solution for cigarette butt litter
- By purchasing and enjoying ocean-i™ products, our customers contribute towards clean-up initiatives and ocean stewardship, each as such becoming the i in ocean-i(mpact).
PRODUCTS
ocean-i™’s striking urban designer outdoor furniture pieces will complement any landscape with their bold, modern contemporary look.
As a young start-up company, we are proud to launch our current select range:
- AFRIKA RISING Patio Chair – 100% post-industrial recycled plastic
- SIT Bench – high performance concrete
- SIT Bench – 100% post-industrial recycled plastic
- GLOW Butt Bin – coloured concrete
In addition, we are already busy adding new products to our range and the following is under development:
- CLEAR Mobile Butt Bin – polycarbonate
Do share your needs as we explore future possibilities!
As we enter into the decade of eco-system restoration, ocean-i™ brings you AFRIKA RISING – the recycled plastic patio chair, designed and manufactured in Africa. Designed by Pieter Mathews for ocean-i™, AFRIKA RISING impresses with its crisp clean lines, honesty of material and impactful funky appearance.
Rising like a phoenix from the ashes, AFRIKA RISING symbolises the rise of the contemporary African artistic spirit.
Manufactured locally from 100 % post-industrial plastic waste, AFRIKA RISING comes in black as well as ‘wild olive’ and is stackable.
ocean-i™’s SIT bench offers an artistic modern look to garden and outdoor landscapes. Whether as a single, double or multi-length seater, its striking design immediately draws the attention and invites you to, well, sit! SIT celebrates our long-standing design collaboration with designer Pieter Mathews, who designed the original concrete version in 2012 in collaboration with Sybrand Wiechers, Grietjie Lee and Santie Gouws (director and co-founder of ocean-i™).
SIT has now been adapted also to be manufactured from 100% post-industrial recycled plastic waste, with durable and attractive stainless steel connections.
The concrete SIT bench, now in high performance concrete incorporating recycled plastic and cigarette butt ‘sand’, still stands out from the crowd with its simple, but bold, clean lines and unconventional shape for a concrete bench. This is modern concrete – slick and slender, yet strong and durable, with a reduced carbon footprint due to reduction in material volumes and positive ocean-impact.
ocean-i™ is partnering with Maxibin to bring you the new GLOW concrete cigarette butt bins. These will be sold with an accompanying service contract where the bins are cleaned and sterilised twice a month, and the butts so recovered are recycled back into new concrete butt bins as recycled plastic and cigarette butt ‘sand’. With an attractive and funky look, our butt bins stand out from the crowd, ensuring they are not overlooked in those critical moments before a butt gets tossed.
ocean-i™ is currently developing and testing the CLEAR mobile cigarette butt bin, ideal for outdoor events. Our CLEAR bins are manufactured from the highest quality attractive crystal clear poly carbonate and can take up to 15 000 cigarette butts to ensure your event is butt-free. CLEAR butt bins will be available for rental only.
We will remove the bins after the event and the butts recovered will also be recycled back into new concrete butt bins.
MATERIALS
At ocean-i™ we live our motto – designer outdoor urban furniture with ocean-i(mpact)! – through the materials we use in the manufacture of our products. Using innovative materials technology, we maximise the use of waste materials in our products, which minimises their environmental footprint, whilst still ensuring their durability, low maintenance and high quality.
RESIN8™ concrete modifier
RESIN8™ is a concrete modifier developed in Costa Rica and manufactured by CRDC in Cape Town. All types of mixed and dirty remediated plastic waste (Resins 1 to 7) are processed into ASTM*-certified RESIN8™. RESIN8™ completely simulates concrete aggregate and can be used to replace conventional
aggregate by up to 5% in structural and 25% in non-structural applications.
During 2020, CRDC successfully incorporated a percentage of cigarette butts into RESIN8™ for ocean-i™. ocean-i™ tested and verified this recycled plastic and cigarette butt ‘sand’ as suitable for our use as raw material in the manufacture of our concrete benches and cigarette butt bins.
(*ASTM – American Society for Testing and Materials, an International Standards Organization)
POST INDUSTRIAL PLASTIC WASTE
ocean-i™’s recycled plastic furniture is manufactured from 100% post-industrial plastic waste.
The advantage of utilising post-industrial plastic waste is that it is not mixed or contaminated, reducing the processing cost.
The resultant designer urban furniture pieces are durable and low-maintenance and can be used in indoor and outdoor applications.
SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS
A set of 17 goals (which include 169 targets), the sustainable development goals (SDGs) are a universal plan of action for people, planet and prosperity. Adopted by all United Nations Member States in 2015 through the adoption of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the SDG’s are intended to be tackled as a group rather than individually and are deeply interconnected, i.e. progress on one goal can have a significant impact on progress in meeting others.
Circular economy thinking leverages several economic and environmental SDG clusters, thereby impacting them all. A circular economy is based on the principles of designing out waste and pollution, keeping products and materials in use, and regenerating natural systems.
At ocean-i™ we have identified several targets within the SDG’s that we will achieve in adopting our business-unusual-model.
ACTIVISM
#plasticfreeriversandoceans
At the heart of ocean-i™ lies our deep love for nature and our yearning to protect and restore it. For us, the hashtag #plasticfreeriversandoceans is not merely a slogan, it is both our inspiration and our goal. We are true #oceanlovers with a desire to create real #oceanimpact, and to make you, our customer, part of that #dreamcometrue.
During 2020, through our social enterprise Sunshine Cleaning, we inspired over 120 volunteers from the Blue Downs community and several like minded commercial partners, to work together and prevent approximately 2 tonnes of plastic and other waste from entering the ocean. The two canal clean-ups (Mandela Day Clean Up) were conducted along the canal running through Blue Downs in Cape Town. The canal flows into the Eerste River at Macassar and into False Bay has been identified by The Ocean Clean-up as 1 of the 1000 most plastic polluted canal/river systems on the planet.
By purchasing and enjoying ocean-i™ products, you contribute towards clean-up initiatives along rivers and canals, thereby joining our tribe of #oceanlovers, as such becoming the I in ocean-i(mpact).
ocean-i™ = inspiration + innovation + integration + I
=
ocean i(mpact)
