The Ocean Legacy Foundation

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The Ocean Legacy Foundation
https://linktr.ee/theoceanlegacyfoundation

Ocean Legacy is a Canadian-based non-profit organization initiated in 2013 with the goal to end the plastic pollution crisis. Ocean Legacy has a proven four-pillar approach called EPIC, which integrates Education, Policy, Infrastructure Development and Clean-up. These pillars are used to co-create innovative solutions which engage the public, media, ENGOs, government agencies, indigenous governance and other businesses globally to achieve plastic-free lands and waters. The OL has developed the first and largest scale Plastic Pollution Emergency Response Facility in Canada that is focused on finding solutions to recycle marine plastic gear and pollution. The Facility has launched Ocean Legacy as an international leader in plastic pollution reduction, collection and processing, showcasing successful methods in stimulating the plastic circular economy across 7 formal depots which have now diverted over 2.7 million pounds of debris that would have otherwise ended up in landfill or re-entered the natural environment. The program also provides a prolific online education academy in three languages and growing, as well as works to improve mitigative plastic pollution policy measures with all levels of government. Currently, the program has removed more then 3 million pounds of plastic pollution from over 2500km of coastline, creating over 1200 meaningful employment opportunities and has catalyzed long-term tools communities need to steward their natural environment. Ocean Legacy has performed and led global plastic pollution field operations for over nine years, becoming one of Canada’s most experienced field teams to collect, remove, sort and recycle materials collected from clean-up efforts and currently works with over 500 entities across an international community.

10/28/2026

We were pleased to take part in the SMART EUREKA CLUSTER PO Proposers’ Day in Vienna, bringing together organisations and innovators to explore opportunities for collaboration and future project development.

Our Co-Founder James Middleton, presented at the event, contributing to conversations around innovation and opportunities for collaborative projects.

At Ocean Legacy, we believe that addressing plastic pollution requires collaboration across sectors, connecting knowledge, infrastructure, and practical solutions to create lasting change.

Thank you to the SMART EUREKA CLUSTER team for the opportunity to participate. We look forward to continuing these conversations and exploring opportunities to advance circular solutions together.

Learn more about SMART: www.smarteureka.com

10/20/2026

Fibrous marine plastics are within the most tricky materials to process. Here's a peek at the recycling process of marine rope!

10/16/2026

What can happen when environmental work meets the performing arts?

We're pleased to have supported rice&beans theatre's production of *Red Demon* by providing nets and other materials to help bring the production to life.

When set designer Megan Lane connected with our team, we were happy to help source materials for the show. We're grateful to Megan and the rice&beans theatre team for finding a creative use for these materials and inviting us to be part of their production.

At Ocean Legacy, we work to address marine plastic pollution through recovery, recycling, education and infrastructure development. Connections like this remind us that materials can have different applications, and that collaboration across sectors can open up new possibilities.

*Red Demon*, produced by rice&beans theatre and Gokko Creative Society and presented by the Firehall Arts Centre, runs until October 18 in Vancouver.

Thank you to the entire team for including us in this creative collaboration.

Catch the final performances: https://purchase.firehallartscentre.ca/EventAvailability?EventId=9401&ref=bookNow&scroll=timeAndDates

10/08/2026

What do we do when we can no longer look away? For Chloé Dubois, Co-Founder and Executive Director of Ocean Legacy, that question became the beginning of a lifelong commitment to addressing plastic pollution.

Around 2010, Chloé experienced deep ecological grief after confronting the scale of the environmental crisis. Instead of allowing that grief to become paralysis, she learned to sit with the discomfort and turn it into action. That journey eventually led her to the coastline of British Columbia, and in 2013, she initiated Ocean Legacy with a vision that went beyond cleaning up plastic. She wanted to reconnect people with nature and rethink our relationship with the materials we use.

One idea has continued to guide her work: Garbage is a system design failure; it should not exist.

For more than a decade, Chloé has worked to turn that belief into action, building partnerships, infrastructure and circular solutions that challenge the systems that create waste in the first place. From recovering plastic from coastlines to creating pathways for that material to become a resource again, her work has always been about imagining what could exist beyond the status quo.

But Chloé’s story is about more than plastic. It is about courage, discomfort, community and the willingness to keep building a different future.

Read the full story of Chloé’s journey, vision and work in the latest Coralus feature:
https://coralus.world/articles/waste-as-a-design-problem?fbclid=IwY2xjawUz7C5leHRuA2FlbQIxMQBwZG9mBHNydGMGYXBwX2lkDzQwOTk2MjYyMzA4NTYwOQABHtx5-ixRud0Ad3DQRvJoI9tvop81clXDq7NMsmRHhUBToMjco8T1U-OjuFNd_aem__leoaslXvqIFRtcBOKX2lg

10/07/2026

What does a circular economy have to do with the health of our oceans?

A LOT!

(Powered by the Circular Innovation Council is an opportunity to look at how we use, recover, and reuse the materials around us, and how moving away from a take-make-waste system can benefit both people and the planet. This week’s theme focuses on the environmental benefits of a circular economy, including reducing waste and pollution, conserving natural resources, and reducing pressure on ecosystems.

At Ocean Legacy, we see the connection every day. When marine debris is recovered from coastlines and waterways, we have an opportunity to keep those materials from becoming waste. Through Legacy Plastic™, we work to transform recovered plastic into new materials and products, keeping resources in circulation.

Because a circular economy isn't just about managing waste differently.
It's about creating systems that prevent valuable resources from becoming waste in the first place. Swipe through to learn more about circularity and its connection to ocean health.

10/06/2026

Hats up for everyone at Surfrider Foundation Vancouver and Átl'ḵa7tsem/Howe Sound Marine Stewardship Initiative for their hard work! Thank you for everything you are doing! We always feel happy to be able to support our partner organizations in their cleanup operations with whatever is in our hands and capacity. Plastic pollution is an issue that requires collaboration and partnerships. If we all do our part we can continue to create progress towards healthier coastlines and oceans!

10/05/2026

What if the plastic polluting our oceans could become part of the solution?

In her latest article for Innovating Canada’s Circular Economy 2026 feature, our Co-Founder and Executive Director, Chloé Dubois, explores how marine debris can be recovered, processed, and transformed into valuable resources.

At Ocean Legacy, we believe the work doesn’t end when plastic is removed from the shoreline. Through our EPIC approach, we work to build systems that move recovered materials back into the economy, creating new opportunities for circularity while preventing plastic from returning to our oceans.

From marine debris to Legacy Plastic™, this is what it looks like to turn pollution into possibility.

Read Chloé’s full article: https://www.innovatingcanada.ca/environment/circular-economy-2026/turning-marine-debris-into-valuable-resources/

10/03/2026

A wetsuit shouldn’t have to end its life in a landfill.

The West Coast Landfill between Tofino and Ucluelet has officially banned neoprene wetsuits from landfill disposal, creating a dedicated pathway to keep retired surf gear in circulation.

Through the ReSurf program, old wetsuits can be dropped off for recycling and upcycling, helping turn a hard-to-manage synthetic material into a resource instead of waste.

Ocean Legacy’s Ocean Plastic Depots are part of this growing network of collection locations, helping make it easier for coastal communities to keep plastic and other hard-to-recycle materials out of landfills.

This is what a circular economy looks like in practice: creating systems that keep materials moving, recover value from waste, and rethink what happens at the end of a product’s life.

And in a community built around the ocean, protecting that ocean starts with what we choose to keep out of the landfill.

Read CBC article here: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/tofino-area-landfill-bans-neoprene-wetsuits-9.7366315

09/30/2026

Today, we recognize the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation (also known as Orange Shirt Day). This day asks us to remember the children who never returned home from residential schools, honour Survivors and their families, and listen to the truths and experiences of Indigenous Peoples.

Reconciliation is not something we can accomplish through acknowledgement alone. It requires listening, learning, building relationships, and taking meaningful action.

Here are a few ways to participate today:
• Learn about the history and ongoing impacts of residential schools from Indigenous voices and organizations.
• Listen to the stories and experiences shared by Indigenous people and communities.
• Attend a local National Day for Truth and Reconciliation or Orange Shirt Day event (link on description).
• Learn whose traditional territory you live and work on, and learn about the Nations connected to that land.
• Read the Delivering on Truth and Reconciliation Commission Calls to Action. (Link on description)
• Start a conversation. Ask questions, listen, and make space for Indigenous perspectives.

Delivering on Truth and Reconciliation Commission Calls to Action:
https://www.rcaanc-cirnac.gc.ca/eng/1524494530110/1557511412801

List of events:
https://www.canada.ca/en/canadian-heritage/campaigns/national-day-truth-reconciliation/list-activities.html

Learn more about reconciliation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aKXR6Uyn72Y&utm

09/28/2026

Yes, our work is EPIC! But what exactly does that mean? Ocean Legacy's EPIC Approach is based on the idea that plastic pollution isn't solved by just one factor, but by a more complex approach that addresses both upstream and downstream areas.

Through this approach, we believe that we can achieve a full scalable transformation anywhere in the world, through Educating people and learning about the issue; creating Policy that regulates production and waste management; developing Infrastructure to properly process plastics and recycles them; and conducting Cleanup operations to address the plastics that have already ended in natural environments.

These are the four areas that have the potential to solve the plastic pollution crisis that we are experiencing!

To learn more about the EPIC Approach, visit edu.oceanlegacy.ca

Address

61-3300 Chatham Street
Richmond, BC
V7E3K1

Telephone

+16042143591

Website

https://OceanLegacy.ca/

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