Sustainable Coastlines

General Operating Fund

Sustainable Coastlines Hawaii has a mission to inspire local communities to care for their coastlines. Our work moves to eliminate the plague of plastic pollution that washes up on our beaches and permeates our ocean ecosystems.

SCH coordinates fun and hands-on large scale coastal cleanups, innovative educational and public awareness campaigns, engages our decision makers, and coordinates green events that seek to reduce plastic at its source. By clearing debris from our coastlines, educating students in classrooms across the islands, and engaging volunteers in immersive experiences we create a community that understands that we must turn off the tap of plastic pollution. Ultimately we want to live in a world where we never have to clean beaches. Thus, we are always looking to find solutions that change behavior, inspire a kuleana of protection, and reduce waste before it becomes a problem in our oceans and on our coastlines.

Plastic Pelletizing Facility

Most debris removed from Hawaii’s coastlines comes from abroad and gets landfilled or incinerated, but much of that debris is actually a resource. It is unsustainable to ship the ocean plastic to the mainland, but potential revenue from products made from our ocean plastic is lost once given to external recyclers. Funding this project to build out the capacity to recycle ocean plastic in Hawaii while incorporating our Keiki into the process will inspire our youth, create jobs, incentivize cleaner beaches, and keep money in Hawaii.

How: To move forward we need to retrofit our existing education station to include a washer, a chipper, a grinder, an extruder, a pelletizer, and a molder. The plastic will enter one end of the facility where it will be cleaned, chipped, extruded, and pelletized.

Goal: On the other end, once pelletized it can be heated in molds to create products like sunglass frames, iPhone cases, or even used in 3D printers to create anything a student can imagine. The project will create a replicable model that can be implemented anywhere in the world that has a plastic pollution problem. By integrating our youth into this process, we open minds, develop new ideas, and foster an entrepreneurial spirit that can fuel a more sustainable Hawaii and beyond.

Composting Pilot Project

Focus: Our waste diversion program that began with the Vans Triple Crown of Surfing has evolved into one of the leading waste prevention campaigns in Hawaii. The program continues to expand, both in scope and impact. Our next steps are pushing the innovation curve by bringing Hawaii’s systems management closer to a closed loop system. Composting and the best end-use for a rising market of compostable materials have been neglected on our islands. SCH is proud to be stepping in to move the needle on these systems and help advance future policy that will usher in sustainable change

How: We will bring an in-vessel composting system from Green Mountain Technologies to Hawaii. This system would be housed at local farms, be powered with solar technology, have the capability to break down PLA and other certified compostable materials, be part of a collaboration of skilled permaculture experts and farmers, and demonstrate the power of closed-loop systems management.

Goal: Green Mountain Technologies’ in-vessel composting systems will be an initial step towards creating a microgrid of solitons that works across communities to turn waste into resources and begins to revitalize soils. Carbon sequestration in healthy soils and reduction of fossil-fuel based single-use plastics are dual mechanisms of local solutions to climate change.