How RHINOSHIELD is Tackling the Ocean Crisis with Our Plastic Management Solutions

The plastic crisis, from large pieces of marine debris to microplastics smaller than 5 millimeters and even nanoplastics, is threatening our shared ecosystem. The Great Pacific Garbage Patch alone is three times the size of France. Meanwhile, over 10 trillion invisible microplastic particles enter into our oceans and waterways each year, accumulating in the bodies of organisms and humans through our water, food chain, and even the atmosphere, posing a direct toxic threat to our health.

Coral, a keystone species for biodiversity, is like the rainforest of the sea. It covers only a thousandth of the ocean yet provides a home for a quarter of all marine species. However, it's not just global warming that threatens their survival; ocean plastic is also a major culprit. Scientists have surveyed 124,884 corals and estimate that by 2025, over 15.5 billion pieces of plastic debris will be entangled in coral reefs in the Asia-Pacific region.

Large plastic fragments, such as abandoned fishing gear and bottles, can scrape and break coral reefs, causing structural damage or open wounds. When plastic bags cover coral, they not only block photosynthesis but can also cause suffocation and death. Microplastics and the toxins they release can stunt coral growth, increasing the likelihood of disease by 22 times, including coral bleaching, black band disease, and skeletal eroding band disease.

In response to this plastic crisis, we at RHINOSHIELD have made protecting the marine ecosystem a core focus. Drawing from our expertise in materials science, we've developed our North Star: a comprehensive plastic management solution. We're exploring three different paths to address plastics from the past, present, and future.

Every year, over 12.7 million tons of plastic waste enter our oceans. Approximately 80% of this floating plastic washes ashore within a month. If it’s not collected, it accumulates over time and slowly releases microplastics. RHINOSHIELD is focused on creating a holistic marine cleanup solution, starting with our CircularBlue™ Marine Debris Filtering Platform to combat shoreline plastic pollution.

Our team of marine scientists and engineers designed CircularBlue™ to be a modular, AI-driven, and energy-sustainable platform. The first prototype will be tested in 2025. It acts like a robotic vacuum for the ocean, using three main modules to operate in both active and passive modes, with the goal of achieving scalable and highly efficient marine debris removal.

Floating Platform: This solar-powered platform operates 24/7, using the pressure differences in water currents to guide debris into a collection area, significantly reducing energy consumption.

AI Scout Drone: Equipped with an AI-powered marine debris detection system, this drone automatically patrols, detects, and locates floating garbage, instantly reporting its position.

Surface Vessel: Upon receiving a location signal from the drone, this vessel actively travels to the target area to collect marine debris, complementing the passive collection mechanism of the floating platform.

In addition to using CircularBlue™ to clear coastal plastic, we actively collaborate with partners like Sungai Watch and Liuqiu Dive on underwater and river mouth cleanup efforts. These initiatives focus on removing hard-to-handle plastic waste, often entangled in coral reefs or trapping marine life. We also upcycle discarded fishing nets into new products, such as lanyards and watch bands, giving this waste a new lease on life.

So, in addition to cleaning up plastic already in the environment, RHINOSHIELD also focuses on preventing marine debris at its source. Since 2015, we have been building the RHINO LOOP circular ecosystem, guided by three key principles that ensure our phone cases can be recycled and reborn. This approach not only prevents plastic from entering the natural environment after use but also reduces demand for virgin plastic by prioritizing recycled materials.

Mono-Material Design: Over 1 billion phone cases are produced annually, yet 99% cannot be recycled. To minimize environmental impact, RHINOSHIELD adopts a mono-material, modular design, making recycling simpler and more efficient while ensuring high-quality recycled material.

The reason is that most phone cases on the market are made from multiple materials—the frame is one material, the backplate is another, and various decorative materials are often added and held together with strong adhesives. This makes it impossible to separate, sort and recycle. When different materials are mixed, it can also lead to material degradation, making recycling difficult.

Circular Material Technology: Born from a Cambridge laboratory, RHINOSHIELD uses its expertise in materials science to create a single-material solution that provides protection, style, and multiple functions. Through breakthroughs in material engineering, we developed our ShockSpread™ ECO material technology, which can be recycled more than six times. This significantly extends the lifecycle of our materials and helps reduce the use of virgin plastic.

Global Recycling Network: Beyond our own stores, RHINOSHIELD has partnered with over 4,000 FamilyMart convenience stores, Return Helper, and various distributors to provide recycling bins and mail-back services. We are also implementing a “circular record” system to trace the lifecycle of our phone cases, step by step, as we continue to refine our plastic management ecosystem.

At the same time, RHINOSHIELD draws inspiration from the ocean. In collaboration with international materials science labs, we are exploring bio-based materials that can replace conventional plastics and remain compatible with natural biological cycles.

RHINOSHIELD will continue to advance on all these paths of plastic management. Our ultimate goal is to achieve zero waste and plastic neutrality—starting with protecting your tech devices, and in turn, safeguarding the planet we all share.