Dreams of growing a business are rarely simple, especially when the aim is to turn a challenge into a solution. The struggle against ocean plastic intrusion becomes a lifestyle, and yet the brothers Amaia and Julen Rodriguez managed to discover a formula that blends vocation with profitability. The startup they launched in Calpe in 2019, Gravity Wave, began with a modest team of about a dozen and soon positioned itself as a noteworthy venture in sustainable industry.
The core idea is clear: rescue plastic waste floating in the sea and reuse nets from broken or unused fishing gear by turning them into valuable products. Finding a viable path to monetize the recycling process proved tougher than expected. Like many pioneers, they faced a setback that forced them to restart almost from scratch after a year and a half of hard work.
As Amaia recalls, the impulse to clean the oceans struck during a vacation that took place after a two-year stay in China and a backpacking journey through Southeast Asia. A stopover on a pristine beach in Borneo revealed a landscape strewn with bottles and other debris carried by currents. The sight left a lasting impression, and upon returning home, she shared the news with her family and, most of all, invited her younger brother to join the mission. Eventually Julen embraced the cause, leaving behind a project that involved importing phone products from China.
In a photo capturing the moment, the founders participate in a Calpe beach awareness event. The scene underscores a commitment that extends beyond profit to environmental responsibility.
The shift in Julen and Amaia’s path was influenced by Lefteris Arapakis, a Greek advocate for sustainable fishing who highlighted the amount of plastic fishermen collect. Debris caught in boat nets from the Aegean Sea began to travel to Spain for recycling, reinforcing the idea that scale could be achieved through coordinated efforts.
Motivated by a desire to restore the sea from their homeland of Pamplona, they chose Calpe on the Costa Blanca as the base. Initial plans aimed to leverage Julen’s contacts in the phone industry to transform reclaimed plastic into cell phone cases, but the venture faced a reality check and the founders acknowledge the misstep openly.
Amaia notes that the industrial partner they initially engaged lacked the necessary plastic processing expertise. After a year and a half of work, the collaboration ended, and November 2020 brought a pivot described as a complete rethinking of the business with almost no resources. The turning point arrived when the team began to approach other companies to propose paid cleaning services for the oceans.
According to Amaia, the company conducted more than twenty meetings weekly with different firms to explore alternative revenue models. The analysis revealed that many corporations desired environmental projects to fulfill corporate social responsibility goals, but they found limited options beyond reforestation programs. Persistence paid off when a bold early adopter materialized in December 2020, validating the new direction and opening the door to paid contracts.
Under this model, client companies compensate Gravity Wave for the work of cleaning the sea. In return, the company confirms the quantity of plastic removed from the waters. For instance, Nestlé has committed to removing 14,500 pounds of plastic as part of its new vegan tuna initiative, among an increasing wave of corporate commitments to this cause.
A Calp company will make street furniture using recycled credit cards
In another line of development, Gravity Wave forged initial agreements with around four thousand fishermen from Greece, Italy, and Spain. Containers were placed at ports to collect nets that no longer served their purpose, preventing them from sinking to the seafloor. The collected material is sent to a Valencia province factory where it is processed into sheets to produce benches, planters, waste bins, and other street furniture. This line of products provides a second income stream for the company and helps close the loop on plastic waste.
The team is now seeking a partner to perform injection molding in order to broaden the product range and handle larger volumes of material. The bold objective is to reach one million kilograms of recycled plastic by 2024, and early signs indicate steady progress toward that goal.