Stories about plastic pollution and its effects on the marine environment and wildlife are distressingly profuse and invariably harrowing. We all play our part in rolling back this tide but sometimes the odds seem insurmountable. Then something changes.
Plastic washed up on a beach on the west coast of France following an Atlantic storm
To launch our Discover the difference brand refresh at the Monaco Yacht Show, we wanted to change perspectives by looking at this problem in a different way. A chance conversation between a Burgess broker and another delegate at the Ocean Talks conference at the Royal Geographical Society, London set us on a path to the door of Ecobooth.
All the furniture and the stands are recycled plastic
The company is based in north west London and works out of a facility powered by renewables, producing zero waste and zero emissions. Inside waste plastic is ground down and repurposed using 3D printers, presses and extruders to create sustainable event stands and furniture. It's delivered using electric vehicles and returned afterwards to be recycled again.
Our espresso bar at Monaco Yacht Show 2019 was built by Ecobooth with decking by Lignia
They created two welcome areas for our Monaco Yacht Show stand using 1.2 tonnes of plastic recovered from oceans and beaches and painted it with VOC-free, water-based paint. In another moment of serendipity, a sample of decking in the office introduced us to Lignia, an FSC certified sustainable softwood treated to be as durable as hardwood. Spirit Yachts recently decked one of its 50ft yachts with Lignia as it's a sustainable and convincing alternative to Burmese teak.
The yacht appointment stand was also created by Ecobooth using the same raw materials
While most of the stands and furniture were returned to Ecobooth for repurposing after the show, a few chairs and a table stayed in Monaco to feature in an initiative supported by the Monaco Government that formed a part of the European Week for Waste Reduction. During the week the furniture was on display at the Stars'n'Bars sports bar and seems to have gone down well.
After the show some of the furniture featured in European Week for Waste Reduction in November 2019
Plastic in oceans is a pervasive and pernicious problem and we're going to need to be innovative to solve it. Treating it as a resource in a circular economy rather than waste is a great example of the kind of mindset we need to adopt. Thank you Ecobooth.
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