Ocean Talks 2023, Sea Change is a small family business that sells award-winning, ethically sourced, eco-friendly wine. Its main mission is to help stop plastic from entering our oceans - by raising awareness, adopting industry-leading techniques to redesign its packaging and supporting a selection of grass-roots charities.
In four short years, Sea Change has already raised an incredible €300,000 and has helped over 250 marine projects in the UK. The family behind the brand talks to BOAT about some of the ways Sea Change has effected change so far and the impactful message hidden in the label's design.
What is your company’s role in helping protect our oceans and marine life?
We help consumers who want to make small changes to their everyday lives – actions which can add up to big impacts! We have removed the unnecessary plastic wrap from our bottles, use minimal and sustainable packaging and donate to marine charities with every bottle sold.
How did the idea come about?
A conversation with a customer at a trade fair made us question what the wine industry was doing to help tackle the issue of plastic in our oceans. We realised there was a chance to make a real impact by doing things differently – without compromising on the quality of our product. Sea Change was born and four years later, we’ve already donated over €300,000 to our charity partners. We’ve also prevented millions of unnecessary items of plastic packaging from entering landfill or, worse still, our oceans.
Can you explain the design of the Sea Change labels?
Our unique and eye-catching hand-drawn labels feature beautiful marine animals - but if you look carefully, you’ll see plastic hidden inside them. We wanted to show the damaging impact that plastic pollution has on these incredible creatures and remind people why we need to protect them.
What advice would you give to people who want to help save our oceans?
In the words of our charity partner Ocean Generation: “The world doesn’t need you to be a perfect environmentalist.” What it does need is lots of us doing what we can, where we can. We believe that making small changes to the way we live, being mindful of the types of products we buy and consume, learning as we go and encouraging others to take action can, as a collective, have an impactful outcome.
What gives you hope for the ocean’s future?
We’re lucky to see the output of our amazing charities, whose work gives us cause for optimism for our wonderful oceans and the incredible wildlife that lives in them. For example, with our help, they have:
- Educated more than 1.1 million children on tackling ocean threats.
- Funded more than 250 grassroots and community marine projects across the UK
- Admitted, treated and successfully released over 100 Olive Ridley turtles back into the wild
Sea Change wine is proof that small changes can make big differences, and we’re only at the start of our journey.