Waste from the river ends up in Coldplay LP

Sometimes you come across exceptional news that raises an eyebrow. That one strange innovation, an unexpected effect of climate change or an example of human clumsiness. So remarkable. This week: Coldplay's LPs are made from old plastic that The Ocean Cleanup fished from the river.

The dumped plastic was fished from the Rio Las Vacas, a river in southeastern Guatemala. The water is located 16 kilometres north of Guatemala City. During heavy rain showers, a lot of waste from the capital washes into the river.

Ocean Cleanup

The river is therefore a good place for Ocean Cleanup to install its interceptor. The Interceptor Barrier is a floating barrier that intercepts the waste while allowing the force of the flooding river to pass underneath. The barricade is attached to strong foundations in the river, so it can buffer enormous amounts of waste.

Millions of kilos of waste

The interceptor in the Rio Las Vacas was installed in 2023. In its first year it captured millions of kilos of waste. This year too, a lot of plastic has already been removed from the water: during a flood last April, hundreds of truckloads of waste were collected in just a few hours. This prevents plastic from ending up in the sea. Rivers are the main source of plastic pollution in the oceans. They are the arteries that transport waste from land to the ocean.

Coldplay LP

The plastic captured in Guatemala has been given a new purpose in the LP Moon Music by the British band Coldplay. The album consists of 70 percent river plastic and 30 percent recycled plastic bottles from other sources.

This isn't the first collaboration between the band and the nonprofit. Coldplay provides financial support to the cleaning activities of The Ocean Cleanup. For example, it sponsors another capture system in the Malaysian Sungai Klang river.

“Coldplay has been an incredible partner for us and I'm thrilled that our plastic catch has helped bring Moon Music to life,” Boyan Slat, founder of The Ocean Cleanup, wrote in a press release. “Ensuring that the plastic we catch never enters the marine environment again is essential to our mission, and I'm excited to see how we will continue to innovate with Coldplay and our other partners to rid the oceans of plastic.”

CO2 emissions from concert series halved

Coldplay itself is also busy making itself more sustainable. During the tour, the musicians travel as sustainably as possible. Sustainable aviation fuel and renewable diesel are used for the trucks. As much renewable energy as possible is also used to run the audio, lights and lasers for the show. Thanks to the measures, CO2 emissions from the concerts were halved. In addition, fans are called on to think about sustainability and to come to the concert on foot, by bicycle or by public transport.

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