Our oceans are beautiful places to venture out to see, play and explore. However, what is often forgotten about this beautiful part of our world is its silent, yet massive destruction.

Each year it is estimated that over 8 million metric tons of trash, specifically plastic, is dumped into our oceans.

While this is a depressing thing to consider, the good news is that many are taking a stand to help improve our oceans and clean them up. One of these organizations is 4Ocean, which works tirelessly to collect trash from beaches and the ocean waters to help clean them up. 4Ocean uses this trash to create bracelets.

The money from the bracelets goes toward helping to clean up beaches and organizing beach cleanups throughout the world.

For every bracelet bought, one pound of trash is removed from the ocean waters or from the sand of a beach.

4Ocean is made of up various teams around the world that are sent out to help remove cigarettes, plastic, and other trash from the water and sand. These teams are out every day working to quickly remove these hazardous items to help not only improve beach and ocean health, but to make our beaches safer places for people to enjoy.

The 4Ocean Bracelet

The 4Ocean bracelet features a deep blue strand that is covered in clear beads which are usually made out of plastic bottles and glass and help to give a beachy flair to the jewelry. On the end of the bracelet, you’ll also find a little charm that displays the 4Ocean logo.

Better yet, all of these materials are made out of recycled items so it’s environmentally friendly.

The bracelets are also waterproof, so you can wear them without worries while out in the water.

This bracelet is the main 4Ocean design, but you’ll find a few special ones you can also buy. These are created for the organization’s monthly cause which is where they create bracelets to help celebrate events and other important organizations throughout the year.

4Ocean will come up with a unique bracelet style to help celebrate this monthly cause. For instance, their newest one is for Earth Day and is made up of a green and blue striped band covered in clear beads which are meant to symbolize the Earth. Part of this bracelet’s purchase will go toward planting trees.

If you’re looking for a way that you can help to protect our oceans, a 4Ocean bracelet is an excellent example.

This small piece of jewelry can work to have a major impact on our world for the better. If you’d like to get out and do some of this hard work yourself, you can sign up to volunteer with this organization and work to help make our beaches and oceans accessible and healthy for generations to come.

If you ❤ the beach, be sure to follow 30A on Facebook and @hey30a on Instagram where we share truly amazing beach stories, photos and videos every day!

RACHEL KESTER is a Journalism major who lives in Virginia. She loves spending her summers at the beach and capturing its natural beauty through photographs. She blogs at Musings of a Coffee Addicted Bibliophile.