Plastic With a Passport: SeaSweepers Launches Tech That Gives Ocean Plastics a Verifiable Second Life

Powered by AI and blockchain, SeaSweepers introduces a Digital Product Passport for recovered marine plastics bringing transparency to the circular economy.

MIAMI, FL, UNITED STATES, March 26, 2025 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Sustainability startup SeaSweepers has unveiled its latest innovation: a Digital Product Passport (DPP) system designed specifically for marine plastics, or as the team at SeaSweepers fondly calls it: Plastic with a Passport.

By combining AI-powered plastic recognition, blockchain-based traceability, and a mobile-first collection platform, SeaSweepers is building a future where every piece of ocean plastic comes with a story and a verified second life. This marks a turning point in the global effort to tackle marine plastic waste not just by removing it, but by proving where it came from, where it’s going, and what it becomes.

How the System Works
At the heart of the platform is AI-driven plastic classification, enabling SeaSweepers to identify the type, condition, and potential use case of recovered marine plastics using only a smartphone. Through the Re:Trace™ mobile app, plastics are photographed, tagged, and logged with metadata such as GPS location, timestamp, source type, and visual indicators like degradation or contamination.

Once logged, each data point is committed to a blockchain-based ledger, creating an immutable digital identity for every plastic item. This serves as the backbone of SeaSweepers’ Digital Product Passport a tamper-proof, verifiable history that accompanies the material from its point of recovery all the way through to its transformation into new products like furniture, construction material, or wearable goods.

In other words, Plastic with a Passport gives trash a transparent trail.

A Tool to Fight Greenwashing
In today’s marketplace, the word “sustainable” has become diluted by overuse and under-delivery. Many companies tout “recycled materials” with little or no proof, and the public has grown increasingly skeptical of such claims. SeaSweepers’ technology flips that model by building verifiable transparency into the recycling journey itself.

Every item entered into the Re:Trace™ platform is documented and verified at the source, giving downstream recyclers, brands, and consumers the ability to confirm the plastic’s true origin and transformation. This transparency isn’t just good ethics, it’s essential to fighting greenwashing, restoring trust, and providing a blueprint for accountable sustainability.

A Global Framework for Traceable Plastics
Digital Product Passports are fast becoming the cornerstone of circular economy legislation, especially in the EU, where they are being developed to track everything from textiles to batteries. SeaSweepers is among the first to apply this framework to ocean plastics, which have long been considered too inconsistent, too contaminated, or too informal to be reliably tracked.

By adapting DPP logic to the realities of marine waste, SeaSweepers is creating a global, interoperable data framework, one that can eventually support not just its own operations, but also those of NGOs, governments, and other innovators in the plastic recovery ecosystem.

The Re:Trace™ Platform: Data for People and Planet
The SeaSweepers tech stack is anchored by Re:Trace™, a mobile and cloud-based platform that empowers both individuals and organizations to participate in the traceable plastic recovery system.

Collectors and volunteers use the app to scan plastics, which are identified by the AI and recorded with location and classification metadata.

Back-end users, like recycling partners or regulators can access dashboards that display real-time recovery stats, heatmaps, material types, and transport logs.

The data can also be anonymized and aggregated for policy planning, ESG reporting, and research into marine pollution patterns.

Re:Trace™ turns every plastic item into a datapoint and every datapoint into action.

See It in Action at SeaCycle 2025
SeaSweepers will debut this technology at SeaCycle 2025, a sustainability showcase event on May 10 at Kenneth Myers Bayside Park in Coconut Grove, Miami.

More than 4,000 pounds of marine plastic, collected from Miami’s coastlines, the Florida Keys, and The Bahamas will be sorted, cleaned and entered into the Re:Trace™ system. Attendees will be able to explore how AI, blockchain, and hands-on volunteer work come together to transform ocean waste into high-quality, traceable raw material.

This isn’t just a demo. It’s a fully operational, transparent pipeline for marine plastic recovery and the public is invited to see it in action at SeaCycle 2025.

“We didn’t just want to recycle plastic we wanted to give it a history, a future, and a way to prove it’s been through the journey,” said Naveen Sydney, CEO of SeaSweepers. “That’s why we built what we call Plastic with a Passport. It’s about restoring trust not just in recycling, but in how we talk about sustainability as a whole.”

About SeaSweepers
SeaSweepers is a U.S.-based sustainability startup focused on tackling ocean plastic pollution at the source. Through partnerships with coastal communities, AI-powered identification systems, and blockchain-backed Digital Product Passports, SeaSweepers is building a transparent, circular economy for plastics that starts where the ocean ends.

Learn more at www.seasweepers.io

Naveen Sydney
SeaSweepers LLC
+1 850-276-9356
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