Zero Waste Beach Cleanups
Updated: Nov 29, 2022
How Loggerhead Marinelife Center made beach cleanups zero waste by switching to TOMbag reusable garbage bags
Customer: Loggerhead Marinelife Center
Organization size: 70+ employees
Location: Florida, United States
Industry: Non-profit organization
Use case: Zero Waste beach cleanups
Product: X-Large (80L) TOMbag Reusable Garbage Bag
Loggerhead Marinelife Center (LMC) was striving to transform its weekly beach cleanups into completely zero waste. During this journey a huge challenge for the LMC team was to find a sustainable yet functional alternative to single-use plastic trash bags used for storing the collected debris. The LMC team tried different types of reusable bags including burlap bags and cotton bags but none of those worked well. The zero-waste mission was achieved only when this Florida-based nonprofit switched to TOMbag reusable garbage bags.
Hear what they have to say about their experience with TOMbag.
Zero Waste Beach Cleanups Case Study Video Transciption
My name is Valerie Nicole Tovar. I am the conservation field assistant here at Loggerhead Marinelife Center. Loggerhead Marinelife Center is a non-profit organization and we specialize in promoting ocean ecosystems, with a special focus in endangered sea turtles. And there is a lot of different things we do to be able to make sure our mission is being upheld. We have four pillars here, and those four main pillars include education, rehabilitation, research, and my personal favorite, conservation.
One of the most common things that we do and one of the most consistent things that we do are beach cleanups. We have beach cleanups that go every single Saturday from 8:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. And they are right here at Loggerhead Marinelife Center. Anyone is able to come and help make sure that our ocean stays nice and clean. You can come right to the back of our facility, grab some supplies and head out to the beach. We also do beach cleanups located all throughout Palm Beach County, and we’ve done them as far north as Juno and as far south as Miami.
And arguably, one of the most important things that we do with all of our debris as well is that we don’t throw it away. We actually keep all of our trash and we store it. And then after that we actually sort all of our trash. So we know exactly what we’re finding right at the beach so we can come up with targeted solutions to the debris items that we are finding out on our beach.
And normally when we store that trash we actually have to put them in bags, which is where TOMbag came into the equation. One of the biggest things that we want to make sure that we are doing is to have zero waste beach cleanups, because a lot of times when we do those beach cleanups, people will use plastic gloves or plastic bags to be able to throw away their debris.
So one of the things that we tried to do before using TOMbag is again we used plastic bags and then realized we want to become more zero waste. So then we tried to use burlap bags and that didn’t work because our burlap bags didn’t seal as well. Any material that had liquids in them would seep right through. Then we tried to use cotton bags that had a seal and those also didn’t work because again, the material and anything that was wet would soak right through the bags. And then we found TOMbag and it was a game changer. And it made all of our trash storing much more feasible for us.
One of the biggest things that we want to make sure that we are doing is to have zero waste beach cleanups, because a lot of times when we do those beach cleanups, people will use plastic gloves or plastic bags to be able to throw away their debris.
So our experience with TOMbag has been absolutely amazing. The customer service has been wonderful. We get consistent emails within hours and they’re in a completely different continent from us. So to be able to get constant communication from someone that’s halfway across the world is extremely wonderful.
And then we found TOMbag and it was a game changer.
They are also able to work with us to make sure that our TOMbags were co-branded. So we have our logo and TOMbag’s logo on the bags as well. And we’ve had nothing but amazing feedback from it. People get super excited when they see our TOMbags and always ask where we get them. We’ve had nothing but wonderful experiences with this company and we are really really excited to continue working with them in the future.
About Loggerhead Marinelife Center
Operating since 1983, Loggerhead Marinelife Center is a non-profit organization whose mission is to promote conservation of ocean ecosystems with a special focus on threatened and endangered sea turtles. Learn more here.
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