Block Partners with Oceanworks to Remove Ocean-Bound Plastic

In 2022, we partnered with Oceanworks to serve as our sustainability partner specifically focused on at-risk plastics. As part of this new alliance, Block funded removal of 1 million pounds of ocean-bound at-risk plastics in 2022. We are also in the early stages of conducting a global plastic audit for our entire business ecosystem. Our preliminary audit yielded a total plastic usage of approximately 2.3 million pounds, which includes all upstream and downstream estimated impact from our products and operations.

The reclamation projects we funded include a U.S.-based fishing net collection program with Net Your Problem that returns marine waste into the circular economy; an Indonesia-based program that turns ocean-bound plastic waste into circular building materials; RiverRecycle, a global social enterprise that drives the reclamation of waterway plastics in Kenya, Indonesia, and India; a Thailand-based program that implements collection initiatives from remote and smaller islands where there is a lack of infrastructure and investment in waste; and an India-based program seeking to strengthen Mumbai’s recycling ecosystem in a just and equitable manner.

We aim to approach our plastic usage through a two-pronged approach of lowering our overall plastic footprint by reducing our consumption, and, where plastics are an unavoidable part of our supply chain and operations, transitioning to recycled content and funding the removal of at-risk plastics from the environment.

Block reported on our Ocean-Bound Plastic Removal program in our 2021 and 2022 Corporate Social Responsibility Reports.