Kia announces partnership with The Ocean Cleanup to drive sustainability efforts

(left) Ho Sung Song, President & CEO, Kia Corporation (right) Boyan Slat, Founder & CEO, The Ocean Cleanup

SEOUL — Kia Corporation and The Ocean Cleanup have commenced a partnership to explore ways to co-create solutions that will support a more sustainable future.

Ho Sung Song, President and CEO of Kia Corporation and Boyan Slat, Founder and CEO of The Ocean Cleanup, attended a signing ceremony at Kia’s Headquarters in Seoul on April 27 to confirm the global partnership between Kia and The Ocean Cleanup.

The Ocean Cleanup is a non-profit organization based in the Netherlands, developing and scaling technologies to rid the world’s oceans of plastic by stemming the inflow via rivers, as well as by cleaning up what has already accumulated in the ocean.

Kia will support The Ocean Cleanup financially to initiate ocean and river cleanup projects, and create a resource circulation system that will help avoid harvested plastics ending up back in the environment by integrating part of the catch from The Ocean Cleanup’s devices into Kia’s production and value chain process.

For seven years, Kia will support The Ocean Cleanup via financial contributions and in-kind supplies to support ocean operations and the construction of the various river cleaning devices. In return, The Ocean Cleanup will supply usable fractions of the collected plastic and share the organization’s research results and relevant data on reducing plastic pollution with Kia.

Ho Sung Song, President and CEO of Kia Corporation, commented, “The key to Kia’s vision for a sustainable future is not just to change the product and service areas, but to make positive changes for the planet. “Kia will continue to make inspirational movements through open partnerships with various partners with organizations like The Ocean Cleanup that have innovative technologies and ideas,” he added.