Riding the Wave of Change: How Alex Schulze Turned Ocean Plastic into a Global Movement

0:01Boom! Shake the room, Fire Nation. JLD here and welcome to Entrepreneurs on Fire. Brought to you by the HubSpot. podcast network, the audio destination for business professionals with great shows like This Old Marketing. Today, we'll be breaking down riding the wave of change, how Alex Scholes turned ocean plastic into a global movement. To drop the value bombs, I have brought Alex into EO Fire Studios. He is a Forbes 30 under 30 honoree and four ocean CEO, leads a global mission against plastic and oh so much more. His innovative approach has removed 38 million pounds of trash, inspiring millions and attracting corporate and celebrity support.

0:39And today we'll talk about where it started, a circular economy. We'll talk about visual storytelling, coastal communities, and oh, so much more. And a big thank you for sponsoring today's episode goes to Alex and our sponsors. The Next Wave, your chief AI officer hosted by Matt Wolf and Nathan Lance, is brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network, the audio destination for business professionals. AI technology is transforming the way we do business and the media landscape is fragmented. The Next Wave strives to be the leading podcast on AI technology and how you can apply it to growing your business.

1:12Listen to The Next Wave wherever you get your podcasts. Looking for an easier, safer way to manage passwords than a million post-it notes? Welcome to LastPass, the most accessible and easy to use password manager on the planet. Visit lastpass.com slash fire for a free trial and get started today. Every login lives in LastPass. Alex, say what's up to Fire Nation and share something that you believe about becoming successful that most people disagree with. What is going on, guys? I think something that I believe about becoming successful that most people disagree with is that there's a lot of things that you have to sacrifice in order to accomplish some of your goals.

1:56And I think that at times it can be a very lonely and a very tough, tough path. But, you know, a lot of people see the amazing stuff on social media and people that have experienced success or accomplish their goals or their dreams. And I think at the end of the day, there's a lot of things that you have to work through in order to accomplish that. And I don't know if I'm necessarily incredibly successful, but I'm very proud of what our team has accomplished. And we still got a long ways to go. Fire Nation, we all have a long ways to go when it comes to accomplishing something of meaningful impact.

2:27And that's why today we're talking about riding the wave of change and specifically how Alex has turned ocean plastic into a global movement. I mean, you heard the introduction, 38 million pounds of trash. Alex, I want to talk about your Bali surf trip that sparked this million pound ocean cleanup mission. I grew up on a small island on the west coast of Florida and spent almost all my time honoring the ocean. I became a licensed captain at a young age and really just developed such a passion for the ocean and for all the hobbies and activities around it. And so when it came time to go to college, most of my family went to Florida State University.

3:08But to be honest with you, I didn't really want to do that. I didn't really want to go to a big school that was kind of landlocked and just basically have like partying be my hobby. And I heard that you could see the ocean from some of the buildings at Florida Atlantic University's campus. So I was hooked. So I came over here to Florida Atlantic University FAU and met a great group of guys that just went on all sorts of different surf trips. And so we were constantly going to Central America, basically anything that we could afford, right? So we go to Central America, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Panama, and we always wanted to go to really like a world-class surf destination like Bali.

3:48So it was after college that a buddy and I ended up taking a trip out to Bali. And that's where we really got a good understanding for the plastic pollution problem. So, you know, we got there and we were hoping to see, you know, these picturesque beaches and just amazing breaks. And we were stoked. And what we saw was an incredible amount of plastic just outside of Kuta, right outside the airport there. You know, we went down to the beach and there was just insane amounts of plastic on the coastlines and basically coming in with the tide. So every single wave was just loaded with sachets, water bags, all thin film and like straws, just so much plastic that we are blown away by.

4:30And we really just wanted to understand where it was coming from. And we were talking to the lifeguards and they explained that they have teams that clean it up in the morning, but by the afternoon, all of that plastic gets basically refilled and it just loads up the beaches again, just due to the plastic issue that they're experiencing in Bali. So we had a crazy idea and wanted to find a way that how we could fund the cleanup of the plastic. And so what happened was we were talking with fishermen there in Bali, and we understood that they were struggling with all this plastic. They really couldn't catch fish.

5:05It was getting caught up in their props. And we were watching fishermen literally like throw plastic outside of the nets back into the ocean. And we were just like, this is insane. Like we've got to find a way to fund, you know, the cleanup of this plastic. And so we came up with the ideas comparable to like the Tom shoes model of a one for one. And we said, I wonder if we could sell a product that for everyone sold, we could remove a pound of trash from the ocean. And so we brought the crazy idea back to Florida and, and gave it a go. You know, it was just a buddy and I that started it. And very quickly, we grew to hire captains and crews, and we expanded from Florida to Bali to Guatemala.

5:42And I'm stoked to say that we employ over 200 full-time captains and crews today. We pay a fair living wage to all our captains and crew, and we cover 100 % of health insurance and benefits. And we're coming up on 40 million pounds of trash removed from the ocean. So I'm super, super stoked and really, really proud of the team's hard work. You should be stoked. You should be proud. I mean, Fire Nation, at the end of the day, And at the end of our days on this planet, I hope we look back and say, man, I really made an impact on something that means something to me. And Alex is absolutely going to be able to say that.

6:17I hope you can too, Fire Nation. I hope you have that waiting for you. I want to talk about a circular economy from ocean plastic to sustainable products. Talk to us about that. Absolutely. So we wanted to find a way to utilize the plastic that we're collecting to essentially commoditize the material. You know, right now it's seen as waste. And so we had the idea to leverage this plastic and go through the necessary steps to try and recycle it into a product. So right now we're taking this plastic and we are breaking it down and pelletizing it and extruding it into a thread. And so we're actually taking the ocean plastic, our captains and crew recover and turning it into products.

6:56And so what we're doing by that is using those products to fund our mission. So we're cleaning plastic, selling it, and then using those funds to fund additional cleanup. And we love the concept of our initial product, which is our signature product, which is the bracelet, because it's a conversation starter. You know, it really it we say it a lot that it's a symbol of somebody's commitment to a cleaner ocean. And so it not only gets the conversation going, but it also helps to fund our captains and crews all around the world. So what we're trying to do is just essentially commoditize that material and turn it from waste into a usable and valuable material that tells a story and gets more people involved in ocean conservation.

7:35One thing I wanted to dive into was visual storytelling because yours specifically, Alex, is so powerful and so well done. So how did you specifically use social media to inspire 11 million followers? And I'm sure that number is even growing from here now. So let's talk about that. Sure, sure. and I appreciate it. And, you know, we're very fortunate to have the audience that we've built. You know, we put a lot of time and energy into it. And I think when we started for Ocean, it was very intentional in the sense of, you know, one model that we say a lot is trying to make cleaning the ocean cool.

8:10You know, when we think about traditional means of ocean cleanup or ocean conservation, there's a lot of groups out there that have been doing it for 30, 40, 50 years. And, you know, I always admire these different brands. Like I looked up to like Yeti and Patagonia and what they've been able to do around building a lifestyle brand. And so we wanted to take a different approach when it came to developing a network. And so everything we did from the beginning was very intentional. Like I was like custom mixing the paint to paint our boats with like basically bed liner spray. So it was more durable, but like the paint scheme that we would put on there.

8:49Our vessels are painted more to look like Coast Guard or, you know, more like law enforcement. We put the light bars like we went, we, we, we were very intentional trying to not have it seen as like, oh, that's just the Saturday morning volunteer beach cleanup thing into no, that's the full-time, like this is a full-time role of captains cleaning the ocean seven days a week because we were, we were serious about it. So we went with that approach in everything. And that just translated into social. And I think that we were very fortunate in the beginning to get a ton of virality. You know, a lot of people just got on board with what we were doing and And they really resonated with just our mission of trying to clean the ocean and trying to get more people involved in terms of cutting down single-use plastics and just keeping the ocean clean.

9:33So, like, it was really amazing to see how many people got on board in the beginning. And, you know, it continues to grow, as you said. Like, you know, we're really focusing on driving awareness on these different platforms, showing people the issue at hand and showing all this plastic that's entering the ocean, talking about what our captains and crew are doing to clean up that plastic and how people can get involved with us as well as do things on their own to try and just live more sustainably. Fire Nation, we're not even close to done dropping value bombs here. So stick around and we'll be back as soon as we thank our sponsors.

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11:56Every login lives in LastPass. Visit lastpass.com slash fire for a free trial and get started today. That's lastpass.com slash fire. Alex, coastal communities are the most affected by this. I mean, let's be honest. And I live in one. So I mean, I really take this to heart because this is super impactful. So how do we empower these communities like mine while creating jobs and economic impact? That's a great question. And I think that was another thing that we intentionally set out to do in the beginning of 4Ocean was we wanted to create jobs. We wanted to basically connect with the fishermen that were the most impacted by this plastic.

12:39And frankly, they were the experts in the areas. Like these are the fishermen that grew up on these waters that already were running boats that were just professionals in every aspect of the ocean. And so we wanted to try and shift the demand from seafood to plastic. So hiring these fishermen was not easy. Like to be honest with you, so many people were, they like didn't believe us when we first started. Like when we first got going before we had all the social media following, so many people were like just when we approached them and said hey listen we want to pay you full-time uh with benefits to collect plastic and trash they thought it was like just it was a joke or we we just weren't serious or it was just going to be a flash in the pan and then as soon as we started building traction on uh on social now it's actually the problem has completely flipped to the point where our captains and crew like the leaders in our different areas are struggling because so many people are applying for jobs because, you know, we're trying to take care of our crew in these different areas.

13:35So, you know, when it came to employing captains, I always just really believed in that, that if we can really help create different forms of these local economies and create a demand where we can fund captains and crews full time, then I think that would create a better outcome for these different areas. You know, we didn't want to just bomb in from another country and bring a bunch of expats to come and potentially take over and clean this stuff up. But like we wanted to work with the communities and create these jobs with the local fishermen. And I think at the end of the day, that's one of the most important parts because there's a lot of different groups out there cleaning plastic from the ocean.

14:12And I think that what we're trying to do is really to focus on creating jobs for these locals and working with them because in order to have a lasting impact on it, we're gonna have to turn off the tap of the plastic. And by doing that, we gotta work with the community. We've gotta have buy-in and we've gotta really just try and change consumption habits across the board. Now, we have to be honest, and Fire Nation knows this, it takes money to speed anything up. And in this process as well, corporations have money. So talk about scaling impact through collaboration with corporations. Absolutely.

14:46So we have expanded our business model. So as I mentioned to you, we started out by the simple model of collecting plastic, turning it into a product, and then selling it to fund our cleanups. That's how we got our kind of first three years. I call it like our Kickstarter campaign in a sense, right? And so what we did is we expanded the business model to work with different businesses and corporations to help them with their sustainability goals. Because at the end of the day, we have to turn off the tap. Our captains and crews are going to be sitting on a treadmill cleaning the same beaches over and over again.

15:17And it's these businesses and corporations that are producing this plastic. And so we knew if we could start working with these businesses, we can work from within the boardroom and really just collaborate with them and partner on ways that we can try and drive more sustainable solutions for all this plastic packaging, then that would have a much larger impact. And so we've actually started a program where we are partnering with brands to help consult and work with them on their plastic packaging. We do plastic offsets, which are comparable to carbon offsets, but for plastic. We also offer like a pull a pound program where any brand can essentially pull plastic from the ocean comparable to like the bracelet.

15:56So for every product they sell, client they sign or like service they render, they can basically pull a pound or pounds of trash from the ocean. So, you know, we've had some amazing success working with these different businesses. And at the end of the day, I'm really, really enjoying having a seat at the table with some of these large corporations, because we're able to talk about plastic and its impact. And, And I don't think there's anybody out there in these large businesses that want to destroy the planet, that want to destroy the ocean. And I think that they just want to find a way to make it happen.

16:30And so one of our core values is nudge, don't judge. We don't believe that taking hostage, pointing fingers, and shaming these businesses is going to be very productive. Instead, we want to come with kind of a calm, cool, collected approach and really work from within the boardroom and talk to them about what can happen, how we can potentially change the outcomes of their packaging and look at more sustainable alternatives. So it's just something that I feel very passionate about because we want to not only clean the ocean, we want to stop plastic before it has a chance to get to the ocean. So we're talking about the present.

17:00You have so many great things going on right now. You've made so much progress over the years. What is the future of ocean cleanup? What does it look like? Sure. So the future of ocean cleanup is pretty bright. Right. I'm very excited. I think I'm by nature a very optimistic person. I always have a very positive outlook. And while this whole situation, when you look at the graphs and charts, plastic is increasing at an exponential rate. Like right now, it's estimated over 33 billion pounds of plastic enters the ocean each year. And it's only exponentially increasing each year. So, you know, I do think that it is a pretty bleak outlook when you look at the graphs, when they're plotting it out 15, 20 years from now.

17:41But I feel very optimistic because I've seen in the past three, four, five years an amazing, amazing trend in the awareness around ocean plastic and the conversations. And so I think what's gonna start happening is that more brands are getting involved, more brands are starting to take action on the plastic that they're producing. And at the end of the day, consumers are driving that demand. Consumers are voting with their dollar. And if we can drive enough awareness through social media, leveraging mainstream tactics like athletes, influencers, celebrities, and things like that, then I think we're really going to move the needle.

18:15And so I'm really excited on the ocean cleanup side because not only are we driving more awareness and we're going to truly start stopping it at the tap, but we are planning to really expand in a pretty significant way. We've recently launched a nonprofit foundation as well to scale our community, education, and various different cleanup activities. So there's just so much opportunity to really just take this entire model and continue to scale it to the point where we can remove hundreds of millions of pounds, if not billions, and try and stop billions of pounds of plastic before it has a chance to enter the ocean.

18:50So I think we're just going to really be focusing on how can we scale our cleanups? How can we be more efficient? How can we leverage more exciting kind of technology and various different things that are going to help our crews clean more efficiently and just do what we can to drive that awareness and just do everything we can to try and, I guess, end the ocean plastic crisis. I can tell you Fire Nation is inspired right now. For those that want to take the next step and learn more, connect with you, connect with your company, maybe learn how they can help. What is your call to action for our listeners today?

19:21Anybody that wants to get involved and help us clean the ocean, they can visit 4ocean.com. So it's a number four, the word ocean.com. And so all of our products fund the removal of five pounds of trash from the ocean. So you can get a recycled ocean plastic bracelet or any of the swag. We have some tools that'll help you cut down on single use plastic consumption. And, or if you're a business and you're interested in implementing a sustainability program, we would love to connect and talk about how we could help clean the ocean, but also drive your ESG goals forward. And that's just the same thing on our website.

19:52Just fill out the contact form and we'd love to be in touch. Fire Nation, you are the average of the five people you spend the most time with. and you've been hanging out with AS and JLD today. So make sure you keep out the heat. For links to everything we talked about, visit eofire.com. Just type Alex in the search bar. The show notes page will pop right up. And Alex, thank you for sharing your truth, your knowledge, your value with Fire Nation. For that, we salute you and we will catch you on the flip side. You're the man. I appreciate you, JLD. Thank you for having me, buddy. Hey, Fire Nation, a huge thank you to our sponsors and Alex for sponsoring today's episode and Fire Nation's successful entrepreneurs they're great at three things.

20:31Productivity, discipline, focus. That is why I created the Mastery Journal so that you can master these three things in a hundred days and we're talking step-by-step. Visit themasteryjournal.com. I'll catch you there or on the flip side. The next wave, your chief AI officer hosted by Matt Wolf and Nathan Lance is brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network, the audio destination for business professionals. AI technology is transforming the way we do business and the media landscape is fragmented. The Next Wave strives to be the leading podcast on AI technology and how you can apply it to growing your business.

21:04Listen to The Next Wave wherever you get your podcasts. Looking for an easier, safer way to manage passwords than a million post-it notes? Welcome to LastPass, the most accessible and easy to use password manager on the planet. Visit lastpass.com slash fire for a free trial and get started today. Every login lives in LastPass.