Hyundai Motor America has announced a partnership with Healthy Seas and Ghost Diving USA, two non-profit organizations dedicated to ocean conservation efforts, mirroring efforts in Europe for the past three years.
Hyundai's support will further Healthy Seas' and Ghost Diving USA's diving projects in southern California to clean the oceans and retrieve fishing nets contributing to marine pollution.
Reclaimed fishing nets and other nylon waste collected become ECONYL, a regenerated nylon yarn that is used to make new textile products.
The partnership will also enable the organizations to host beach clean-up events across California throughout 2024, with the partnership kicking off on with a clean-up event that took place at Huntington Beach State Park on 9 December.
The partnership with Healthy Seas and Ghost Diving USA supports Hyundai Motor Company's commitment to sustainability and global vision of progress for humanity. This focus on the ocean emphasizes the company's efforts to help create more sustainable marine ecosystems and contribute to a circular economy.
“Sustainability is a core human value for Hyundai and protecting the world's oceans is of utmost importance,” said Randy Parker, chief executive officer, Hyundai Motor America.
“This partnership with Healthy Seas and Ghost Diving USA bolsters our global commitment to creating a more sustainable future for all, advancing Hyundai's global vision of progress for humanity.
“We particularly look forward to kicking off the expansion to the United States in California and what we can achieve together.”
Healthy Seas is an international non-profit organization whose mission is to remove waste from the seas, specifically fishing nets, for the purpose of creating healthier seas and recycling marine debris into new products with the help of partners.
Healthy Seas and Ghost Diving USA, an international non-profit specializing in recovering abandoned fishing gear, or ‘ghost nets', from sensitive aquatic environments, work together to combat ocean pollution and recover ghost nets that would otherwise be a danger to marine life.
“We are thrilled to extend our partnership with Hyundai to the USA, Healthy Seas has been at Hyundai Motor Europe's side for three impactful years,” said Veronika Mikos, director, Healthy Seas Foundation.
“Collaborating on diving clean-ups and education, we've recovered ghost nets, fostered sustainability, and now, with Hyundai Motor America, we're eager to expand our efforts to the US. Together, we shape a sustainable future for our oceans.”
“Today over three billion people around the world depend on seafood for essential nutrition. Because of this, commercial fisheries aren't going anywhere, but the damage left on the environment is ever present and growing,” Jim Babor, president and CEO, Ghost Diving USA.
“We can't single-handedly clean up the oceans. Through the generosity of and partnership with Hyundai Motor America, our important work can continue, and we can keep moving forward with our missions, projects, and goals into the new year.”
A pan-European partnership between Hyundai Motor Europe and Healthy Seas started in 2021 and broadened to South Korea in 2022. This partnership with Healthy Seas and Ghost Diving USA in the United States builds on Hyundai's other eco-initiatives including a multi-year partnership across North America with One Tree Planted, a non-profit organization that focuses on global reforestation, and Hyundai Motor's ‘IONIQ Forest' project, a global social and ecological effort that focuses on reforestation, afforestation, and biodiversity.
Photo credit: Hyundai and Ghost Diving USA / Symeon Manias
