Not To Be Inevitable
Things That Turned Out
Lonely Whale doesn't run campaigns.
We identify assumptions that are holding industries back, then convene unlikely allies to redesign the conditions that allow those assumptions to change.
Convenience = Disposable
Plastic Straws
The assumption: businesses couldn't remove plastic straws because customers expected them
The lesson: people adapt surprisingly quickly when better choices become the new default.
The change: plastic straws went from status-quo to one of the fastest-adopted environmental changes around the world.
Plastic Bottles
The assumption: single-use bottles are the only convenient option
The lesson: convenience isn't a product, it's a system. Change the system and people change their behaviour
The change: the campaign helped shift the conversation from bottled water to
refill systems and reusable alternatives.
Plastic = Irreplaceable
Plastic Shopping Bags
The assumption: retail needs a single-use plastic bag in order to function
The lesson: the problem wasn't the bag. It was the system that made single-use the default.
The change: the initiative shifted the conversation from replacing bags to redesigning how shopping bags are used.
Plastic Garment Bags
The assumption: there is no viable alternative to thin-film plastic garment bags
The lesson: inventing better materials isn't enough. Brands need a lower-risk path to adoption.
The change: a pipeline that connected breakthrough technology with partners, pilots, and early adopters. Sway went on to become one of the world's leading seaweed packaging companies.
Waste = Worthless
Sea-to-Soil
The assumption: seafood bi-products
are waste and have no value
or commercial use
The intent: turn marine byproducts from fishing and aquaculture into a valuable product for terrestrial agriculture.
The goal: create a new market and new products that creates value for coastal communities while helping to regenerate depleted soils.
UNDERWAY
A Waste Plastic Supply Chain
The assumption: there isn’t enough commercial value in ocean-bound plastic to justify recovering it
The lesson: demand creates value. When companies commit to buying recovered material, the economics of recovery change.
The change: companies collaborated to build a market for recovered ocean-bound plastic, helping transform waste into a resource.
Innovation = Too Risky
Seaweed Stories
The assumption: new materials are too unfamiliar
The lesson: people adopt new materials once they can see, understand and experience them..
The change: Seaweed Stories turned material science into culture, making emerging biomaterials tangible for brands and consumers.
Plastic Innovation Accelerator
The assumption: plastic alternatives can't meet commercial expectations
The lesson: innovation succeeds when designers, brands, and material scientists solve problems together.
The change: the accelerator helped bridge the gap between experimental breakthrough materials and viable commercial adoption.
Untangled
The assumption: saving whales comes at the expense of fishing communities
The intent: make whale-safe fishing an easy business decision by building a commercially viable whale-safe lobster supply chain.
The goal: help protect one of the world's most endangered large whales while supporting coastal livelihoods.
UNDERWAY
Fashion the Future
The assumption: sustainable materials can't compete with conventional synthetics
The intent: reduce the risk of adopting better materials by connecting innovators, with the brands, and funding so they can scale them.
The goal: reduce the volume of synthetics microfibres and harmful chemicals entering our oceans, food, soil, water, and bodies.
UNDERWAY
Changing Tides From Within
Our programs are designed to empower a community of change-makers to realize their agency; helping us drive meaningful, measurable reduction of plastic waste before it ends up in the ocean.
We are small and mighty team who create outside impact with funds and donations from people like you.
