THE OCEAN IMPACT PODCAST
The Ocean Impact Podcast follows Co-founders Tim Silverwood and Nick Chiarelli on a journey of discovery as they build OIO and pursue their purpose ‘to transform ocean health through inspiration, innovation and good business.’ Listen to all episodes now on:
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How Sustainable Is Your Seafood: Dr Chris Wilcox from Fair Catch Alliance
Tell most Australians that nearly two-thirds of our seafood is imported, and they’ll be flabbergasted. After all, our fisheries are known to be well managed for the most part and held to a high standard around sustainability. But a recent study by Minderoo Foundation proves that we don’t really know what’s on our plate.
The Startup Helping CPGs Ditch Single-Use Plastic: Ben Stern from Nohbo
There’s a big chance that items you’ll find in your bathroom make up some of the 120bn units of packaging produced by the beauty industry annually. And those single-use amenity bottles in hotels? According to The Wall Street Journal, an estimated 5bn of them are thrown away yearly. But Nohbo, Winner of The Ocean Impact Pitchfest 2022, has developed a solution to help CPGs and the hospitality industry ditch single-use plastic. Encapsulating your favourite personal care products into plastic-free single-use or full-size ‘serves’ that literally disappear with water.
What is Sustainable Packaging? Kate Bezar & Rebecca Percasky from BPCo.
Did you know that the equivalent of one garbage truck worth of plastic ends up in the ocean every minute? And according to the OECD, 40% of global plastic waste actually comes from packaging. One New Zealand startup is on a mission to make sustainable packaging that does better. And whether they’re creating compostable mailers that declare “I’m a real dirt bag” or putting a giant emoji poo made of plastic waste on Bondi Beach - they seem pretty passionate about it.
Revolutionising Marine Coatings to Tackle Antifouling: Christina Linke from Clean Ocean Coatings
Did you know that the industry standard coating for marine vessels, antifouling paint, is toxic? Antifouling coatings usually contain biocides to help prevent the growth of marine organisms (biofouling), and are often designed to self-erode when organisms eventually do take hold. But one German startup has developed an alternative solution with commercial shipping vessels in mind.
THE AUSSIE INNOVATION CLEANING BUILDING SITES & WATERWAYS: ANGUS HUDSON FROM SLURRYTUB
Wet trade slurry (eg. cement slurry) is generated on building sites every day, and often finds its way into water systems. For one experienced Sydney builder, it was a problem he’d observed far too often. He had enough of seeing tradespeople cutting corners on site, and slurry being dumped out. Subsequently ending up down stormwater drains and out into rivers, and eventually the ocean. So he created SLURRYTUB, a bright orange solution to this grey problem.
THIS LIVING ARTIFICIAL REEF HELPS COMBAT COASTAL EROSION: WILL BATEMAN FROM CCELL
Without climate mitigation and adaptation, half the world’s beaches could disappear by the end of the century due to climate change-induced coastal erosion and rising seas. Coral reefs have been a hero in protecting our coastlines, but climate change is impacting them too. Luckily, CCell has a solution to grow digitised, living artificial reefs that help combat coastal erosion.
HOW AI MONITORING COULD UNLOCK SUSTAINABLE FISHERIES: ALEXANDER DUNGATE FROM ONDECK FISHERIES AI
How do you monitor catch on fishing vessels out at sea? The traditional - and archaic - process for this is not exactly scalable. But one ocean impact startup may have found the ‘unlock’ for sustainable fisheries monitoring, by utilising AI technology.
Microfibres and Ocean Microplastics: Mojca Zupan from PlanetCare
Around 700,000 microfibres are released doing an average load of washing. Mocja Zupan (Founder and CEO of PlanetCare) compares this to dumping one plastic bag into the ocean per week, just by doing laundry! Microplastics are a big problem: after all, they’ve been found in the Mariana Trench, in our food, and even in our blood! But PlanetCare is on a mission to stop microfibres from your washing machine.
From Rigs to Reefs - Repurposing Offshore Platforms in the Blue Economy: Amber Sparks from FishLAT
With the decommissioning of thousands of aging offshore oil and gas platforms imminent, the question remains: what do we do with them? One female-owned startup has developed a tool to predict exactly that, putting data in the hands of decision-makers to choose the best outcome for the ocean and Blue Economy.
The Robotics Startup with an Ocean of Uses: Tom Loefler from Hullbot
Did you know that biofouling can contribute to a 20-55% increase in global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions per vessel? This is just one of the many consequences of this pesky problem. In the first episode of our Pitchfest 2022 series, we chat to Hullbot CEO and co-founder Tom Loefler about how this Sydney-based robotics startup is sustainably tackling biofouling prevention, and building the world's most advanced underwater drone.
TURNING FOOD WASTE INTO STRETCH WRAP: JORDY & JULIA KAY FROM GREAT WRAP
Julia and Jordy Kay are the founders of Great Wrap, and 2nd Runners Up in Ocean Impact Pitchfest 2021. Great Wrap is an Australian startup tackling the problem of plastic pollution and waste generated by cling wrap. It replaces petroleum-based cling wrap with a compostable alternative from food waste.
THE ROBOTIC FISH THAT'S SAVING THE SEAS: SIMEON & LIANE FROM AQUAAI
Simeon Pieterkosky and Liané Thompson are the founders of Aquaai, an innovative startup using robotics and biomimicry to gather critical data from the ocean and waterways. Aquaai’s technology has a unique, nature-inspired, ‘fish like’ design allowing for accurate data collection and reduced stress in certain settings like aquaculture.
REIMAGINING ETHICAL SEAFOOD SOLUTIONS: NATHAN PYNE-CARTER FROM ACE AQUATEC
In this Episode of our Pitchfest 2021 Series, Nathan Pyne-Carter talks about how Ace Aquatec has pioneered new technologies, how welfare can’t be put to one side, and about navigating the long road of building and leading a successful ocean impact startup.
CROWDSOURCE CLEANING THE PLANET: JEFF KIRSCHNER FROM LITTERATI
Jeff Kirschner is the founder and CEO of Litterati, a startup on a mission to identify, map, and eliminate the world's litter. In this episode, Jeff talks about how Litterati found a business model that worked, how integrating machine learning made the app even better, and how data is driving change.