Zero waste company Zero Co has introduced a new 100Yr Cleanup project to fund large-scale rubbish cleanups for the next 100 years.

The company has committed $100,000 to kick-start this project, and is turning to the industry to help raise $1 million in the first year so as to help the company increase its impact and set up infrastructure for future cleanups.

Founding partners include The Hidden Sea who sponsored $50,000 worth of rubbish and Skip Foundation contributing $50,000.

For every $100 raised, Zero Co said it removes 1,500 water bottles worth of rubbish from the planet.

The 100Yr Cleanup has kicked off the first clean up in the Nile River, where Zero Co’s team has cleaned up 1 million water bottles worth of rubbish ahead of COP27 in Egypt. The rubbish was used to build the world’s largest plastic waste pyramid, measuring 10m tall, 12m wide and weighing up to 18,000kg.

Zero Co founder Mike Smith camped on its top for three days to raise awareness and funds – an initiative which aims to remove 15 million water bottles worth of rubbish from the natural environment every year, for the next 100 years. 

“We want to put the plastic problem on the environmental agenda. We know we can’t do this alone, so we need to get everyone involved. By working together with businesses, industry leaders and inviting the public to take direct action, we’ll be able to build a scalable solution to the problem and have a huge impact,” Smith said.

So far it has raised over $264,000 (at the time of writing) from individuals and several Aussie brands including The Hidden Sea, Skip Foundation and Belong.

“I’d love you to be a part of our incredible movement that has cleaned up over 1 million water bottles worth of rubbish from over 20 cleanups and stopped another 1.5 million water bottles worth of trash from going into landfill thanks to our customers returning 350,000 product pouches to us to be reused,” Zero Co founder Mike Smith said.

“I want to ensure that future generations have the opportunity to experience untouched wilderness in all its powerful forces. Whilst we inherit this planet from our ancestors, we also borrow it from our children.

“The planet needs us, and we’re on the precipice of accelerating our impact and would love you to join us.”

By supporting the initiative, individuals and businesses can contribute to future cleanups around the world, including 2023 plans to host an underwater cleanup in Australia and untrashing ‘the roof of the world’ in the Himalayas.

With sufficient funding, the team hopes to be able to pursue its ultimate vision of building full-time teams in Southeast Asia and Australia cleaning the planet five days a week, every week, every year, for the next 100 years.

Click here to get involved.