Did you know that every year, 28-billion pounds of plastic ends up in our ocean. In addition, approximately 40 million people in the developing world are in need of prosthetic limbs? Hence, the Million Waves Project! It seeks to change both of these issues by taking plastic from the oceans and transforming it into prosthetic limbs for children. Plastic in need through the process of 3D printing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ocean Plastic for Limbs

Even though we only started on Earth Day of this year, we have already had the chance to help 18 recipients receive limbs and we have partnered with the Washington Coastsavers to clean even more plastic off of the beaches and put it to better use.

 

 

 

 

 

Firstly, this Million Waves project started off with the hope to just help one person. Amazingly enough, people have rallied together in support of what we are doing. Recently, we have had the chance to purchase our own industrial extruder, which allows us to streamline our production process and focus our efforts on going to even more beach cleanups! Our hope in the future is to be able to do everything in-house: shred the plastic, develop it into filament that we can feed into the 3D printer, and develop the prosthetics for recipients. It is a tall order, but we believe that with the support we have received and hope to continue to receive will help us achieve that goal.

We know the negative impact that people have had and continue to have on the environment. That is why we are seeking to make a change. Sometimes we as people look at these global issues like pollution and think that someone is taking care of the problem.

The thing is, that responsibility falls on us. We aren’t perfect, but we can make conscious efforts to cut down on our use of plastic waste. We aren’t asking you to send us your plastic (trust me, we get that request a lot). Instead, we want to take the plastic that has already been harmful to the environment and reuse it, and we call everyone to action to cut down on their own personal plastic use.

We know that it is hard, especially when plastic has been so easily accessible to us, however, a lot of the harm that it has done to the environment cannot be reversed. Every year, over 100 million sea creatures are killed due to plastic, and that is something that we have to change. It starts with you.

If you would like to learn more about us and our mission, check out our website: https://www.millionwavesproject.com/

Thanks to Seth for letting us share with you a little bit about what we do and what we believe.