Kia signs 7 year partnership with The Ocean Cleanup to integrate recycled ocean plastic into its value chain

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Kia has signed a seven-year Global Partnership deal with The Ocean Cleanup, the non-profit organisation that develops and scales technologies to rid the world’s oceans of plastic.

Kia will be providing funds and in-kind contributions for ocean operations and for the construction of Interceptor Original river cleaning devices. Through this partnership, Kia intends to integrate recycled ocean plastic harvested by The Ocean Cleanup into its value chain process, as part of its corporate vision to become a ‘Sustainable Mobility Solutions Provider.’

The Ocean Cleanup is a non-profit organisation based in the Netherlands, developing and scaling technologies to rid the world’s oceans of plastic.

They aim to achieve this goal by taking a two-sided approach: stemming the inflow via rivers and cleaning up what has already accumulated in the ocean. For the latter, The Ocean Cleanup is developing large-scale systems to efficiently concentrate the plastic for periodic removal. To curb the tide via rivers, The Ocean Cleanup has developed Interceptor™ Solutions to halt and extract riverine plastic before it reaches the ocean.

For seven years, Kia will support The Ocean Cleanup as an official “Global Partner” via financial contributions and in-kind supplies to support ocean operations and the construction of the various river cleaning devices – The Ocean Cleanup’s Interceptor Solutions. In addition, Kia will also supply four electric vehicles, including one EV6 and three Niro EVs, to the organisation’s headquarters in the Netherlands.

In return, The Ocean Cleanup will supply usable fractions of the collected plastic and share the organisation’s research results and relevant data on reducing plastic pollution with Kia.

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Ho Sung Song, President and CEO of Kia Corporation, commented, “The key to Kia’s vision for a sustainable future is not just to change the product and service areas, but to make positive changes for the planet,” and added, “Kia will continue to make inspirational movements through open partnerships with various partners with innovative technologies and ideas like The Ocean Cleanup.”

“Plastic is not inherently a bad material, but we must use it responsibly. We demonstrate how we can turn pollution into a solution by launching applications that help clean the oceans and simultaneously – together with our partner Kia – provide proof that recycled plastic can be used sustainably. I hope that we can inspire others to do the same,” said Boyan Slat, Founder and CEO of The Ocean Cleanup, “This cooperation is the next step in our efforts to prevent that our catch does not end up back in the environment while using its value to support our cleanup efforts further.”

This partnership is one of the key strategies in Kia’s corporate vision to build a sustainable future for mobility. Kia plans to increase its percentage of plastic re-use to 20 percent by 2030 and expects to further contribute to environmental protection by establishing and activating a “Virtuous Recycling Loop” to minimise climate impact when disposing of vehicles.

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