When the ocean Speaks, We Listen - Ocean Plastic Pollution Data

When the Ocean Speaks, We Listen — And Turn It Into Ocean Plastic Pollution Data

Universal Plastic on ONDA CERO Radio

This week, ONDA CERO, one of Spain’s most prominent national radio networks, sat down with our CEO, Álvaro Bravo, for an interview about the growing plastic crisis in our seas — and how Universal Plastic is tackling it with science and technology.

Broadcast on their Gijón station, the piece captured something we believe deeply: the ocean doesn’t need more talk. It needs digital infrastructures that turn care into action, and action into evidence.

That’s the challenge we’ve taken on — and the opportunity we see. At Universal Plastic, we built an App that transforms cleanups into verified ocean plastic pollution data. This data helps communities, businesses, and governments take concrete, measurable steps toward ocean regeneration. It’s about turning visibility into impact, and impact into long-term change.

From the Microphone to the Coastline on Ocean Plastic Pollution Data

In the conversation with journalist Guillermo Figueroa, Álvaro spoke candidly about the turning point that led to Universal Plastic. A trained marine engineer and former rescue boat crew member, he had long felt a personal connection to the sea. But it was during his patrols in polluted waters — seeing waste float among the waves, washed up on shores, embedded in ecosystems — that a clearer picture emerged.

The sea was not silent. It was sending a message.

That sense of urgency became a call to action. And Universal Plastic was born to translate that call into a new language — a language of data, transparency, and shared responsibility.

At 17, Álvaro was already working aboard a rescue boat, navigating real-life emergencies at sea.

Aplicación móvil para limpieza de playas y economía azul

Now, Álvaro uses the app he helped develop to monitor plastic pollution along his home coastline in Asturias.

Data, Not Just Cleanups

Beach cleanups are valuable, but without structure and follow-through, their impact is difficult to quantify — and even harder to scale. Too often, cleanup efforts remain isolated events, disconnected from broader environmental strategies. What’s missing isn’t motivation — it’s methodology.

That’s why, since 2023, Universal Plastic has been developing a digital system that captures more than what’s removed from the sand. It captures what that waste tells us about patterns, behaviors, risks, and opportunities. Every piece of plastic collected is a data point — a clue that reveals how materials move, accumulate, and interact with human activity along the coast.

This is where science enters the picture. Our system is built on a protocol co-designed with environmental scientists and engineers, ensuring that every cleanup follows standardized steps that allow for consistent, comparable, and verifiable data. By applying artificial intelligence and geolocation technology, we turn everyday environmental action into a source of scientific insight — helping bridge the gap between local engagement and global knowledge.

Our approach turns cleanups into something more: a living environmental database that grows with every action taken. This means that even small, local efforts feed into a shared intelligence — one that can guide better decision-making, targeted interventions, and resource allocation at scale.

“

“We’re not just trying to clean the ocean,” said Álvaro in the interview.
“We’re measuring the problem so that everyone — from individuals to corporations — can help solve it with precision.”

AI is integrated into the app to detect and classify plastic objects during each waste collection.

The app guides users through a scientific cleanup protocol: take a photo of the waste before and after removal, and the system — powered by AI and computer vision — generates geolocated ocean plastic pollution data. This data is then combined with other layers like weather conditions, demographic density, and tourism indicators to understand the broader impact.

Why does this matter? Because plastic pollution isn’t static. It shifts with the tide, the season, the economy. And understanding its patterns is the first step to intercepting it — at scale.

Because plastic doesn’t just threaten ecosystems. It disrupts the Blue Economy: from tourism, to fishing, to human health.

For Companies: Become Blue

With that data, we created Become Blue, a verification that allows companies to prove — and proudly show — that their support translates into measurable, real-world impact.

When a company becomes Blue™, it financially supports cleanup operations, and gains access to the verified ocean plastic pollution data their contribution helps produce. This allows them to showcase traceable environmental action, grounded in science and transparency.

This approach has earned recognition at a European level: Universal Plastic was awarded People Choice of European Startup in the Blue Economy during the BlueInvest Start-Up Battle, supported by the European Commission.

But more importantly, it reflects what we believe: regeneration isn’t a side project. It’s a core business value. When companies integrate ocean protection into their Environmental, Social, and Governance ESG strategies, backed by credible data, their credibility increases — and so does their impact.