Timestamps:

5:15 - When tide ocean became a full-time project

14:50 - What happens to tide ocean when we run out of plastic?

28:26 - Plastic vs glass or paper recycling

32:36 - How tide ocean pays and incentives employees from developing countries

46:51 - Do startup competitions actually help startups?

This episode was co-produced with SEF.Growth, the Swiss Economic Forum's Growth initiative to support Swiss startups and SMEs with growth plans free of charge.

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About Thomas Schori:

Thomas Schori is the co-founder and CEO of tide ocean, a startup turning 100% ocean-bound plastic into safe, useful products. Thomas worked for his family’s business, Braloba Group, before co-founding tide ocean in 2018.

Originally linked to the Swiss watch industry through its mother company, Braloba Group, tide ocean was founded when Thomas investigated the possibility of using recycled polyester yarn for watch straps. Nowadays, tide ocean has teamed up with multiple partner organizations to collect and reuse what already exists. The result is an award-winning material that comes in the form of recycled plastic pellets for plastic injection, recycled polyester yarn for textile applications, and recycled plastic filament for 3D printing.

Already when founding the company, Thomas and his team realized that their business model could not be founded solely on fixing the damage of plastic pollution, but must also strive towards preventing it. This means they not only clean oceans and rivers, but they also prevent plastic from ending up in the ocean by employing plastic collectors in developing countries (like Mexico and Thailand) and paying them by the kilogram.

This plastic is brought to tide ocean’s ecohubs, where salaried employees sort the plastic, so that it can then be shredded, washed and reshaped, resulting in a new plastic of 97% virgin quality — quality so high that consumers can’t tell the difference. These employees also get health insurance and support with language learning, IDs (which are not as common or as easy to obtain in developing countries) and education.

tide ocean’s opportunity is huge: 14 million tons of plastic end up in the ocean every year, and if we recycled merely 1% of it, we would run a turnover of 300M. Not to mention, of course, the social and environmental impact. tide ocean currently counts among its customers brands like Migros and Tom Ford. They recently raised money through the Swisspreneur Syndicate.

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The cover portrait was edited by ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.smartportrait.io⁠⁠⁠

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Episode 191: Dr. John Speakman