Kia to use plastic from Dutch ocean cleaner Boyan Slat in cars

Recycled plastic

Cars are becoming more environmentally friendly in many ways. For example, you increasingly come across recycled materials in cars. Think of door panels made from recycled plastic, or chairs and floor mats made from old PET bottles. In the new Kia Niro you will even come across recycled wallpaper. The Koreans are now going to use recycled plastic collected by Boyan Slat’s The Ocean Cleanup.

The Ocean Cleanup

Boyan Slat is such a Dutchman that you can be proud of. The CEO and founder of The Ocean Cleanup has been focused on just one thing from a young age: cleaning up the plastic soup in the oceans. Especially in the Pacific Ocean, a lot of plastic comes together. There is about 80 million kilos of plastic floating there, in an area three times the size of France.

Prevention is better than cure

80 percent of all plastic flows into the sea via rivers. To prevent this, The Ocean Cleanup developed a plastic-trapping boat: the Interceptor. Several Interceptors are now cruising in various rivers in Southeast Asia, such as Malaysia and Indonesia.

Collaboration

Kia is now starting a seven-year partnership with the nonprofit. The Koreans help financially, among other things, with the construction of the Interceptor ‘Solutions’. In addition, Kia Netherlands is making a Kia EV6 and three Niro EVs available to The Ocean Cleanup’s headquarters in Rotterdam. In return, Boyan and his team will supply recyclable plastic to the automaker. The brand wants 20 percent of the plastic it uses to be recycled by 2030.