Kia starts producing limited-edition trunk liners out of ocean plastic

Korean automaker, Kia is contributing to keeping the oceans clean with its latest car accessory made out of plastic removed from the ocean.

The company announced in a tweet on 16 October that its latest accessory, a limited-edition trunk liner, was made using plastic extracted from the Great Pacific Garbage Patch by The Ocean Cleanup.

Saving the oceans

Kia is one of the leading automakers in the world, with markets in several countries. However, it isn’t only focused on making cars, but also has major interest in the preservation of marine ecosystems.

The company has been a partner of The Ocean Cleanup, and has supported it since 2022. The Ocean Group is a non-profit organization focused on developing and scaling technologies to rid the world’s oceans of plastic. 

Inventing the new limited-edition trunk liner for the all-new Kia EV3 is one of the highest achievements in the partnership between Kia and The Ocean Group so far, as it directly helps in recycling plastic waste removed from oceans. 

Commenting on the invention, Charles Ryu, Executive Vice President and Head of the Global Brand & CX Division, Kia, said:

“As the first genuine Kia accessory made using reclaimed ocean plastic, we are proud to see tangible progress made toward creating a circular resource system for ocean plastic. We will leverage the lessons learned during the recycling and product development process to continue to manufacture useful and beneficial products for our customers using ocean plastic retrieved and provided by The Ocean Cleanup.”

Giving back to society

Indeed, manufacturing car accessories from plastic waste found in the ocean is a major way of giving back to society by helping to remove plastic waste in water bodies.

Kia and The Ocean Cleanup celebrated the removal of over one million pounds of plastic from the Great Pacific Garbage Patch (GPGP) in September. Following this milestone, Kia has gone a step further to turn the plastic into limited-edition trunk liners, which is even more commendable.