Fighting plastic pollution in the local area

From the moment that Kelpi was founded, we were always about tackling plastic pollution. So whilst our ‘day job’ is creating world-leading materials to replace fossil fuel plastics, when it came to deciding how to use our charity day this year, we decided to use our time clearing up some of the mess created by plastic litter.

So, last week the whole team headed off to a stream near our office in Bristol. Working with Bristol and Avon River Trust (BARTS), 14 Kelpi colleagues spent the day wading through Brislington Brook and along the banks, collecting a wide range of litter and pollutants, cleaning the river and make it safe for its inhabitants. The final tally at the end of the day saw 2 shopping trollies, 2 computer chairs, a scooter and more than 25 large rubbish sacks which we’d filled with single-use plastic waste from crisp packets to drinks bottles. One colleague found a crisp packet dated 1986!

The team also utilised the time in the river to uproot a huge area of Himalayan Balsam - an invasive species which grows rapidly and smothers other vegetation, causing huge negative affects to the biodiversity of riverbanks across the UK.

Kelpi’s mission is to tackle the horrors of fossil-fuel based, single-use plastic by creating new biomaterials made from seaweed. Charity days like this are just one of the other ways in which Kelpi helps tackle this issue in the local community. We’ll be back to spend more charity days on projects aligned with our mission in the months to come.