From Trash To Charm: Our Transformative Upcycling Program
Rebels — This Is What Real Change Looks Like
You already know the problem: plastic bottles aren’t just trash — they’re toxins. They clog our oceans, choke our coastlines, and kill our coral. And yeah, we’ve written about it before. But today, we’re taking you deeper.
This is your updated look inside our transformative upcycling program — how we take plastic bottles straight off the beach and turn them into wearable ocean art. From our quarterly cleanups to full-blown 3D printing production, this isn’t about “raising awareness.” It’s about doing the work.
This is hands-on conservation. This is art born from frustration. This is what rebellion looks like.
Our Beach Cleanups Are More Than Just Cleanups
Four times a year, across Florida’s beaches, our community comes together for something that’s equal parts protest and purpose. We aim to pull hundreds of pounds of waste out of the sand — bottles, straws, wrappers, bags — the same waste that kills turtles, blocks coral sunlight, and never breaks down.
But we don’t stop at collection.
We turn that waste into raw material.
Because plastic isn’t just pollution — it’s potential, if you know what to do with it.
How We Turn Beach Plastic Into 3D Printing Filament
The process isn’t polished — it’s real, hands-on transformation. We don’t ship our plastic off to some third party. We handle it ourselves, bottle by bottle, turning ocean waste into usable art.
Here’s how it works:
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Clean & Sort
Every bottle is hand-washed, stripped of labels, and separated by type. Only PET plastic — the kind used in most water bottles — qualifies. It melts clean, bonds strong, and prints beautifully. -
Strip & String
Instead of shredding, we cut the bottles into long, continuous plastic ribbons. These strands are fed directly through a custom-built setup that transforms them into usable 3D printer filament. It’s low-tech, high-impact, and fully circular. -
Melt & Extrude
The ribbons are heated just enough to soften (not burn) and extruded into smooth, consistent 1.75mm filament.We hand-pull, cool, and spool it ourselves — no middlemen, no mystery. -
Print With Purpose
This reclaimed filament becomes custom ocean creature charms — turtles, dolphins, octopuses — each one representing species threatened by plastic pollution. Every charm is created directly from waste pulled off Florida’s beaches.
This isn’t theoretical upcycling. This is real plastic, handled by real people, transformed into something that can spark real conversation.
The Ocean Charms — You’re Literally Wearing the Change
You didn’t just pick up a trinket. You picked up a story.
That turtle? It used to be a water bottle on Clearwater Beach.
That octopus? Pulled from the sandbanks of Sarasota.
That dolphin? Fished out of the wrack line in St. Pete after a storm.
Each charm is 3D printed directly from bottles we pulled ourselves — cleaned, melted, and shaped with intention. They aren’t just symbolic. They’re literal proof that your hands and your choices are part of something bigger.
And soon, it’ll be even more personal.
We're rolling out a new experience for our Florida cleanup crews — something we're calling Tag It & Bag It. When you show up to clean the beach with us, we'll archive your collected plastic, tagging and tracking it so that when you buy a charm later, it’s made from the very bottles you helped remove. It’s a physical connection — not just to the ocean, but to that day, that beach, that change you made happen.
Wear the truth. Restore the ocean.