How are 4ocean bracelets made / what are 4ocean bracelets made from?Updated 9 months ago
All 4ocean bracelets are handcrafted by local artisans in Bali and Guatemala with components made from recycled materials, including our recovered ocean plastic.
100% recycled 4ocean Plastic cord
Marine debris recovered by our crews is transported to a local 4ocean facility where PET plastics are sorted from the rest of our recovered materials
Recovered PET plastics are stripped of their labels, hot washed, shredded, melted, and extruded into pre-production plastic pellets (i.e., they’re recycled)
Recycled 4ocean Plastic pellets are sent to our U.S. manufacturing partner where they’re spun into yarn, dyed, and coated in 100% beeswax to preserve the color
100% recycled stainless steel charms
We partner with a manufacturer in China to produce all of our custom bracelet charms from 100% recycled stainless steel
95% post-consumer recycled glass beads
A portion of the glass bottles collected by our crews are mixed with other post-consumer recycled glass to produce the volume we need to satisfy demand
A little bit of raw silica is added to the recycled glass mixture to give our beads strength and durability; note that the addition of the silica is the only reason why our beads are not certified as 100% recycled content
Once formed, the beads are cut to size and a hole is drilled in the center
Handcrafted by local artisans
All recycled material components are distributed to skilled artisans in Bali and Guatemala where they are hand-woven into the variety of intricate patterns found in our bracelet collections
Our artisans carefully collect all discarded cord and beads so they can either be reused or recycled into other bracelets
Third-party certified
GreenCircle Certified has audited our collection process and supply chain to verify all recovered and recycled material claims.
FYI: We’re still transitioning older inventory to 100% recycled 4ocean Plastic cord
The plastic we recover is often extremely degraded due to environmental exposure and it took a lot of trial and error to figure out how to make a quality bracelet cord using only our recovered materials.
We officially transitioned to 100% recycled 4ocean Plastic cord with the re-release of our Signature Beaded Bracelet in August 2022. While a handful of bracelets were made with 100% recycled 4ocean Plastic cord prior to this date, the rest were made with 100% post-consumer recycled plastic cord with only small amounts of our recovered ocean plastic mixed in.
Some of the bracelets made with 100% post-consumer recycled plastic cord are still available on our website and will transition to 100% recycled 4ocean Plastic cord when it’s time to replenish that inventory. For full transparency, material composition is listed on the product page for every item in our shop.