The SeaCleaners Association

Pilot Pen France, a major player in the writing materials market, has signed a partnership agreement for a minimum of five years with The SeaCleaners, a French association fighting against plastic pollution in our oceans. This decision is in keeping with Pilot’s CSR approach.

A partnership as proof of its commitment

Since the launch of its BEGREEN line of pens, using recycled plastic, in 2006, the PILOT brand, whose European factory, based in Haute-Savoie is ISO14001 and EMAS certified, has continuously strived to reduce the environmental impact of its operations. It does this by limiting the use of non-recycled plastics in its products and packaging, and through designing environmentally friendly refillable products. 

The launch of the B2P refillable pen, created from recycled plastic bottles in 2009, marked the beginning of another important phase in Pilot’s commitment. 

So, it’s no surprise that Pilot became a sponsor for the French association, The SeaCleaners, created in 2016 by the sea captain, Yvan Bourgnon. His personal mission is to eradicate plastic pollution from the oceans by building a revolutionary vessel, the Manta, which is expected to set sail for the first time in 2023.

The Manta, a real tool

This vessel will be both an educational tool for young members of the public and a scientific laboratory used to collect and study the behaviour of waste in the sea—not to mention to serve as a shining example of a lever for the circular economy. 

It will be the first vessel designed for the high seas that is capable of collecting and treating a continuous flow of large amounts of plastic macro-waste floating on the ocean surface. The energy autonomy of the Manta will be maximised, thanks to the large amount of innovative technologies used. The manoeuvrability of the vessel and its radius of action will allow it to quickly take action in the most polluted areas (mainly along the coasts or in the estuaries of the world’s 10 largest rivers, from which 90% of all plastic pollution spills into the oceans). The vessel may also move towards polluted areas following a climate or natural disaster.

 Pilot is proud to make a long-term contribution to this large-scale technological, technical and ecological challenge.

A brand with a unwavering commitment

Pilot’s commitment to environmental conservation isn’t anything new. The Japanese company takes important steps towards a more respectful and increasingly greener world.

For PILOT, respecting the environment is just as important as the innovation and quality we provide to our customers. Protecting resources, reducing waste and preventing pollution are just some of the goals the group has been working towards since it was founded. This pioneering brand offers a large range of products designed with the environment in mind. It limits the use of non-recycled plastics in its products, promotes refillable products and works to reduce the amount of plastic in its packaging.

For this reason, the brand created some iconic product ranges starting with BeGreen and its 26 models, all of which contain between 71% and 95% recycled plastic.

Since it was founded, Pilot has strived to promote refillable writing materials and to instil an economic and environmental gesture in consumer habits that will truly last. Using refills prevents up to 85% of plastic consumption and the pens’ frames are designed for long-term use. Through this wholesome cycle, preferred by consumers since 2015, the number of refills sold has only continued to grow.

As of today, 63% of Pilot’s products are refillable.
Selling products on the market requires a certain amount of packaging and wrapping. All of our blister packaging is manufactured in France with recycled cardboard and PET containing at least 50% recycled material. All of our boxes and warehouse packaging are plastic-free and made with recycled cardboard.

Since 2009, PILOT has reduced six-fold the amount of plastic in its blister packaging.

An environmental declaration from the Pilot Corporation of Europe

PILOT is careful to pair growth with complete transparency. Every year, it publishes its environmental goals and results through an Environmental Declaration, available on the brand’s website.

Apart from simply designing its products with the environment in mind, PILOT tracks all of its goals through an Environmental Management System (EMS) driven by the company’s Senior Management. Its main courses of action aim:

– To reduce the quantity of plastic in the products through Life Cycle analyses

– To reduce energy consumption at the production sites and administrative offices

– To prevent industrial risks and pollution linked to the group’s activities

– To optimise the use of production methods and the value chain (injection, packaging assembly and distribution)

– To carry out awareness-raising programmes and staff training on the environment

– To continuously monitor and evaluate the environmental goals and disclose them in a completely transparent manner.

Allianz Global Investors, one of the world’s leading active investment managers, announced that it has entered into a five-year partnership with The SeaCleaners, a new project designed to combat plastic pollution in the world’s oceans.

Key takeaways

The SeaCleaners’ focus on ocean preservation and pollution education a natural fit with AllianzGI’s commitment to Sustainability
Five-year partnership will offer engagement opportunities for AllianzGI’s clients and colleagues, and support the launch of ‘The Manta’, a revolutionary new ship, combining several renewable technologies to reduce its carbon footprint, capable of collecting 10,000 tonnes of plastic macro-waste a year
AllianzGI’s support for The SeaCleaners is a natural fit with the firm’s commitment to Sustainable investing, with the partnership also set to open up new engagement opportunities for AllianzGI’s colleagues and clients, many of whom are already actively working to combat plastic waste.

Partnering with AllianzGI will support the development of ‘The Manta’, The SeaCleaners’ giant new waste collection ship. Measuring in at 70 metres long, 49 metres wide and 61 metres high, The Manta is expected to take to the seas in 2022. It will use state-of-the-art technology to collect plastic macro-debris in high density areas like coastlines and estuaries before they break up and disperse and irreversibly damage bio-diversity. As well as mass collecting discarded plastic, the ship, powered by wind turbines, solar panels and automized rigs, will conduct cutting-edge scientific research, with The SeaCleaners providing open source data. One energy recovery unit will also convert non-recyclable plastics to run the ship and the on-board factory.

On land, The SeaCleaners work to raise awareness among future generations of the harm caused by plastic pollution through a wide range of activities in schools and fairs. As part of this new partnership, AllianzGI colleagues will have the chance to participate in events with The SeaCleaners’ team focused on reducing plastic pollution and leaders from The SeaCleaners will attend and support AllianzGI’s range of Sustainability events.

Thorsten Heymann, Global Head of Strategy at AllianzGI, said:
"A shocking 9 million tonnes of plastic are dumped in the ocean every year – that’s about 300kg per second. As an active, long-term investor, with sustainable investing in our DNA, we want to play an active role in combatting the scourge of plastic pollution, a common cause we share with The SeaCleaners. Together, we can help protect the oceans for future generations.

This partnership is something we are passionate about for two reasons: firstly, it resonates with a critical part of our value proposition for clients, reflecting our desire to take a truly holistic approach to investing sustainably: and secondly, the joint journey will provide new ways for our colleagues and clients to engage with a topic that we know they care about a great deal."

Yvan Bourgnon, President-Founder of The SeaCleaners, said:
“Ocean plastic pollution is an ecological catastrophe and we are delighted to make this partnership with AllianzGI, because their values and sustainability scope are very closely aligned with ours. Innovation, international and long-term action, sustainable development, biodiversity protection, education: let’s put people back at the heart of important ecological challenges. We are proud to work on this exciting mission and to build together a story about saving the oceans with a partner like AllianzGI.”

As part of a drive to reduce plastic use across its global business, AllianzGI is running internal campaigns to reduce its use of single-use plastics including introducing ‘Plastic Free Tuesdays’ in its London office, while colleagues have also taken part in beach clean-up exercises at Baker Beach in San Francisco, Lamma Island in Hong Kong and Taiwan’s ‘Coastal Cleanup’. AllianzGI’s Hong Kong office was recently awarded the “Hong Kong Green Organisation Certification” in recognition of its active participation in adopting various environmental practices, including reducing its use of plastics, and promoting a green workplace.

AllianzGI is a pioneer in Sustainable investing. For the last two years, AllianzGI has received an A+ for its overarching approach to ESG Strategy and Governance from the Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI). AllianzGI recently appointed Beatrix Anton-Groenemeyer as its first Chief Sustainability Officer. This new role, which reports directly to CEO Andreas Utermann, further underscores the importance of sustainability to AllianzGI and its clients.

All of AllianzGI’s EUR 535bn of Assets under Management are ESG (Environmental, Social & Governance) informed, with AllianzGI’s highly-developed, active programme of engagement, stewardship and proprietary research available to all investment professionals across AllianzGI. AllianzGI is committed to, and in the process of, embedding ES&G factors across all of its investment strategies, with Integrated ESG already applicable to EUR 118bn of the assets AllianzGI manages. In addition, as well as managing EUR 22bn in dedicated SRI strategies, AllianzGI manages around EUR 6bn of impact investments.

•  See Allianz GI's press release

Euronews, the leading international news channel in Europe, and the European Business Summit have joined forces to create the European Leadership Awards, a prestigious and renowned ceremony rewarding outstanding achievements in the fields of business, politics, entrepreneurship and innovation.

Selected in the Innovation category, The SeaCleaners won the 2019 award in the presence of many European leaders including among them Mr. Juncker, President of the European Commission. This third international award in the space of one year for the Manta project, is a pride for the teams of the association but also a great recognition of the work done today.

We would like to thank all the Partners and Sponsors, as well as the many private donors, who support us and make it possible to make more than twenty people work around a single objective: that innovation can be tomorrow in the service of the protection of the oceans.

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