Small bottle, big 1bn and growing impact

Ocean Bottle, the company that uses recycled plastics for its thermos flask products, has collected the equivalent of one billion plastic bottles that would have otherwise entered the world’s oceans.

Since its founding in 2019, each bottle sold represents 11.4kg of plastic (the equivalent of 1,000 plastic bottles) from reaching oceans.

The brainchild of London Business School alumni William Pearson and Nick Doman, the germ of an idea for the company was first sparked when Pearson embarked on a life-changing, one-year adventure working at sea as a deckhand on a private yacht.

Pearson was abruptly faced with a disturbing reality – ocean pollution. “I encountered Thilafushi, also known as ‘Rubbish Island,’ the dump site where plastic from resorts is burned and left free to drift into the oceans. I couldn’t erase the image from my mind,” he says, adding that, back on land and pursuing a Masters in Management at LBS in 2017, he “basically became obsessed with people and the planet and all the challenges that we need to solve within our lifetimes.”

Later, when studying at LBS, Pearson saw someone drinking from a reusable bottle in the LBS cafeteria for the first time. He remembers this instant vividly. “That was the light bulb moment. I thought, they’re doing that but they could do so much more,” he recalls.

Serendipity plays its part

Around the same time, Pearson met his future co-founder, Nick Doman, through opportune adjacent seating at their very first lecture. The pair shared a strong interest in environmental impact and entrepreneurship, which would become the foundation of their collaboration. “Our worlds collided, which was great,” says Pearson. Soon, they decided to launch Ocean Bottle, which was incorporated in 2018.

The Ocean Bottle concept is as simple as it is ambitious: the bottles are made from stainless steel and upcycled, ocean-bound plastic, and each bottle sold funds the collection of 1,000 plastic bottles. The company aims to collect no less than seven billion plastic bottles by 2025, equivalent to the weight of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch and provides its clients with an impact traceability platform allowing them to monitor the collection and impact of plastic bottles, thus enhancing transparency and enabling the creation of compelling narratives about its sustainability efforts.

Another Eureka moment came when Pearson saw someone drinking from a reusable bottle in the LBS cafeteria for the first time. He remembers this instant vividly. “That was the light bulb moment. I thought, they’re doing that but they could do so much more,” he recalls.

Around the same time, Pearson met his future co-founder, Nick Doman (LBS Masters In Management 2018), through serendipitous seating in their very first lecture. The pair shared a strong interest in environmental impact and entrepreneurship, which would become the foundation of their collaboration. “Our worlds collided, which was great,” says Pearson. Soon, they decided to launch Ocean Bottle, which was incorporated in 2018.

Simple but effective

The concept is as simple as it is ambitious: the bottles are made from stainless steel and upcycled, ocean-bound plastic, and each bottle sold funds the collection of 1,000 plastic bottles. The company aims to collect no less than seven billion plastic bottles by 2025, equivalent to the weight of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, and provides its clients with an impact traceability platform allowing them to monitor the collection and impact of plastic bottles, thus enhancing transparency and enabling the creation of compelling narratives about its sustainability efforts.

The Ocean Bottle idea didn’t materialise overnight. It only started to become a reality once Pearson and Doman enrolled in LBS’s Launchpad, a student-led programme with a vibrant and supportive entrepreneurial ecosystem of mentors and peers.

Launchpad became a hub for creative brainstorming, strategic guidance, and hands-on support, while offering Pearson the opportunity to refine his business plan and to pitch his innovative ideas to potential investors – a crucial step in securing the necessary resources to bring his vision to life.

Meanwhile, LBS’s Incubator programme, stewarded by the School’s Institute of Entrepreneurship and Private Capital (IEPC) also played a central role in Ocean Bottle’s early stages as a start-up and in Pearson’s journey as an entrepreneur.

Serving as a catalyst for innovation, it helped Pearson make significant strides toward turning his concept into a tangible product, offering practical support, mentorship, and access to priceless networks. For example, super mentor Jane Khedair, who at the time acted as LBS Incubator lead, was Pearson’s go-to problem-solver, helping him navigate all kinds of tricky business puzzles and introducing him to great resources, he says.