「The SeaRake」
OCTET-J
1.Social backgrounds & business incentives
We intend to introduce this product to fishers
Marine waste, particularly various plastics areof littered oceans to encourage “marine waste
acting as the main culprits of disturbing marinefishing” in addition to their aquatic yields. Our
wildlife and or the ecosystems in a negative,
product is compatible with fishing vessels, byintolerable manner. The Great Pacific Garbage
jointing it on the stern using chains. By installing
Patch is a symbolic figure of this issue, reflecting
additional units of the SeaRake, the device is
how much the it has gone out of hand. 1In fact, it
compatible with vessels of different sizes.
is estimated that by 2050, the net mass of
It is composed ofmarine waste will exceed that of the total mass
mainly two filtersof marine life on Earth. We humans are not anstructured in a
exception from the negative implications of thiscurved frame,
growing issue, as it has profound effects on ourconsidering thehealth through the process of biomagnification.
resistance of theThe responsibility of us humans in the issue ofwater. The marine
marine waste is our business incentive, towaste comes in contact with the first filter,
reduce marine waste in oceans by introducing(bottom left) which separates the waste by size.
our SeaRake to the fishers of littered oceans.
It sends small waste, including microplastics tothe bottom portion of the structure to make
2.Description of the businesscontact with graphene filters. 5Graphene is
Our business follows mainly 2 phases: collecting
capable of filtering only the waste while allowing
marine waste, and producing transportation oilwater to pass through. Meanwhile, the large
from polyethylene, as our product. The
waste is sent to the upper portion of thetransportation oil we produce guarantees profit,
structure to come in contact with a filter (topas polyethylene which is well known as PETright), which filters waste of large size.
2bottles, accounts for the highest portion ofThis marine waste collection process of “marinemarine waste.
waste fishing” contributes to reducing marine(a) Solving the issue of marine waste
waste in the ocean.
The structure shown in(b) How this works as a businessthe diagram is one unit of
Despite that the effects of plastics and various
SeaRake, which is ahuman waste on marine life is grievous, 6latest
device that collects
technology by SIOC (China) show that themarine waste floating on
combustion of polyethylene can yieldocean surfaces. Here, ittransportation oil with 70% efficiency. Thoughshould be noted thatthe combustion of plastic is well known for the
3
94% of marine waste is located on ocean
hazardous chemicals it produces; carbon
4floors, but they will have negligible effect on thedioxide, dioxin, their emission can be prevented
surrounding marine life as they are unlikely to be
by Direct Air Capture (DAC) technology to keepeaten. However, marine waste floating on thethe process environmentally legitimate. Thissurface being mistaken for food is not a rareinnovative chemical processing and DAC
occasion, as they are likely to be encountered
technology will be adopted, to processby creatures of the surrounding habitat.
polyethylene into transportation oil, in our power
Naturally, we will focus our marine waste
plants. Therefore, we consider the collection ofcollection on floating waste.
marine waste as a business, by processing
plastics into oils and selling them as our product.
1

https://nikkan-spa.jp/1451325
https://www.cleanaid.jp/files/graph2016_1rank.jpg
3https://www.eunomia.co.uk/reports-tools/plastics-in-the-marineenvironment/
2

4

https://natgeo.nikkeibp.co.jp/atcl/news/16/b/121100251/?ST=m_news
5
https://m.srad.jp/~phason/journal/545848
6https://advances.sciencemag.org/content/2/6/e1501591

In the long run, we plan to process not only
polyethylene, but 7producing food products fromplastic using fungi to break down the material
while remaining edible biomass.
3.Marketing strategiesa) Analysis and target
899% of the fuel consumed in Japan are imports
from foreign countries, and its’ demand is notpredicted to see any decline in the near future.
The vast amount of imports for natural
resources and capital is negatively affecting its
economic growth, demanding an immediate
solution. Through SeaRake, gradual productionof fuel will be probable, decreasing imports andraising domestic consumption, eventuallyleading to an increase in GDP. Therefore, ourbusiness and power plants are initiated inJapan. Our target customer will be firms in the9steel industry as their consumption of oils are
the largest.
b) Marketing strategies
i. Manufacturing method
We intend to base the activities of the productin the north pacific ocean given the below facts.
-10The garbage density of the north pacificgarbage patch is the largest-Japan is geographically adjoined in the garbage
patch, where expected yield of marine waste
can be maximized.
-11Most Japanese trading vessels pass throughthis area.
-1280% of marine debris is composed of plastics,
polyethylene being the main contributor.
ii. Marketability
The strengths of our product surpasses existingcleaning products, ones that are operating at
this day. This system is not only a sustainable
method of production, but one that imposes a
significantly minimal effect on marine
biodiversity. Moreover, in the long-run, it canpotentially contribute to a positive result on
Japan’s economic growth. 13The biggest forte ofour product is its refined efficiency, making it
possible to collect 200 times more marine debris
than prior systems. The SeaRake can beinstalled in any type of boats and ships,7

https://www.dezeen.com/2014/12/10/livin-studio-katharina-ungerfungi-mutarium-recycle-plastic-food/8
https://www.teikokushoin.co.jp/statistics/map/index16.html
9https://www.enecho.meti.go.jp/about/whitepaper/2013html/img/21
2-1-5.gif10
https://marineplastic.net/fate/garbage_gatchdemonstrating high flexibility. 14In the process of
converting plastic into fuel, emission of carbon
dioxide is prevented, showing a highconsideration to the environment not only in theocean, but on land as well. Another big strengthof this system is that we provide our cleansing
product for free, avoiding any reluctance ofinstalment.
iii. Sales promotion method
We promote our business through social media
such as Facebook and YouTube to inform ourtarget and individuals about our business andcontribution to the environment. Also, we will
create a website that contains detailed
information and visualizes the amount of plastic
waste collected and the amount of fuel produced
to appeal our efforts as much as possible.
4. Financial plan

We expect our business to expand exponentially
due to its immense effect on reducing marine
debris, however only tested in Japan for the first
3 years and then the expansion to a worldwide
scale in the latter years.
We expect more fuel production as more ships& vessels are encouraged to install this system,as the recognition of this system will increase,which can be visualized easily from our website.
We expect some natural disasters during thecourse of the ships journey, destroying ourproduct, however can be assumed to benegligible to the effects on our profits.
It should be noted that the cost of purchasing
the marine waste collected by ships & vessels
adopting the SeaRake is an expense as well.
11

https://www.canadiangeographic.ca/article/map-lets-youvisualize-shipping-traffic-around-world
12
https://www.iucn.org/resources/issues-briefs/marine-plastics
13
https://marineplastic.net/responses/seabin_project
14
https://buzzap.jp/news/20150728-carbon-engineering/