While ocean plastics pollution is a global issue—some of the highest concentrations of plastic litter particles have been found as far as remote parts of the Arctic—90% of this pollution originates from only 10 rivers, eight in Asia and two in Africa. The main offenders are China, Indonesia, the Philippines, Vietnam, and Thailand and are the result of poor or mismanaged waste systems in those countries.
In 2018, TerraCycle founded the TerraCycle Global Foundation (TGF) with $450,000 in seed money from The PepsiCo Foundation. TGF is a 501(c)3 public charity dedicated to dramatically reducing the volume of marine debris and plastic waste found in the world’s waterways. The foundation’s inaugural platform is focused on Thailand (the Thai Foundation, or TGFT).
