By 2050, our oceans are expected to be filled with more plastic than fish. That's a figure shared by the World Economic Forum, who also estimates that global plastic use has increased 20x in the past 50 yearsand is expected to double again over the next 20. Already, microplastics have been making their way from the oceans and into our food supply, with the average person possibly consuming up to 5 grams per week.

What makes this even more troubling is that when it comes to disposal, there's no quick fix. Despite widespread participation in recycling programs, converting plastics is more complicated than most realize.

Around 80% of all plastics ever produced have not been properly recycled. When sent to landfills, plastics release chemicals that become only more toxic over time. When burned at high temperatures, they produce greenhouse gases and use large amounts of fossil fuels. From every angle, ocean plastics present a rapidly growing threat not only to marine life, but to the planet itself.

Solving this crisis means pioneering fresh solutions - and that's where Humanscale comes in. In 2016, wepartnered with Patagonia to fund a new kind of sustainability effort, launched from the coast of Chile, and focused on collecting discarded fishing.

Fishing nets account for about 20% of all ocean plastics, and are largely considered the most dangerous, killing scores of marine life and destroying reefs. However, through upcycling, they can serve a very different purpose.

Once pulled from the water, the nets are turned into plastic pellets. Humanscale then uses those pellets to create our Ocean chairs – specifically Liberty Ocean, Smart Ocean, and Path (at present). Liberty Ocean and Smart Ocean contain almost 2 lbs. of reclaimed ocean plastics each, while Path incorporates nearly 10 lbs. of ocean plastics.

The most exciting part? As people see that it's possible to create products like our Ocean chairs, demandfor similar products increases, and more and more nets are taken out of the ocean. As fishermen are informed and motivated to not only collect more discarded nets, but to stop discarding them in the first place, we begin to see how a small solution can quickly become a much larger movement.

Ocean plastics remain a growing threat, but through strategic partnerships like ours, solutions are emerging. Learn more about our Ocean seating above, and discover how you can help save the planet, one chair at a time.