In partnership with ESPM, a business school in Rio de Janeiro, OceanPact is transforming waste into solutions and rethinking processes through innovation. Students are engaged in developing upcycling solutions for materials used in the company’s operations.

The project brings together OceanPact’s Sustainability, Safety, Environment and Oil Spill/Port areas, which presented students with the challenge of developing new products from items that reached the end of their service life and would otherwise be discarded, such as containment booms, coveralls, shirts, gloves, boots and helmets.

“The initiative began as a pilot project linked to ESPM’s design program and evolved into a structured project. It has also helped OceanPact review its internal sorting and disposal processes, expanding the potential for reuse,” says Leticia Mendes, the company’s sustainability and corporate responsibility manager.

As a starting point, the students were given access to a 2025 OceanPact case study describing how around 3 metric tons of containment booms were transformed into approximately 300 large heavy-duty bags after sorting, cleaning and decontamination.

The partnership reflects OceanPact’s commitment to the circular economy and to solutions that integrate environmental responsibility and sustainable development.