As a peninsula, South Korea borders the ocean on three sides. And the beaches are suffering from ocean

waste. The amount of waste on 40 beaches has increased by 45% in 2021 compared to 3 years ago. Some

even predict that in 2050, the ocean will be half fish, half plastic. Most people are ignorant to the problem.

So how could we make them care and do something about it?

In Korea, there are many snacks in the shape of sea animals, such as whales, crabs, and squids. So we

decided to use these snacks that are loved by all ages. We created Seanack, a snack shop where trash is

turned into treasure. A compound word of ‘sea’ and ‘snack’, Seanack is a campaign where waste collected

from the beach can be traded in for sea animal-shaped snacks of the same amount. The campaign ran on

weekends from July to August in major beaches in Korea, such as Yang Yang, Gyeongpo, Jumunjin, and

Sokcho.

There hadn’t been any particularly successful environmental campaign in Korea. Mostly because the

emphasis usually lied on good intent, but also because the aspect of getting people to participate had been

ignored.

In Korea, young and old love to eat snacks shaped as sea animals. You can find them in any store,

everywhere. Using these snacks, Seanack turned an act of caring for the environment from a simply ‘good

deed’ to ‘something fun’.

Beaches in Korea were opening up again after 3 years of being closed due to Covid-19. We took the

Seanack truck to beaches where we anticipated a surge in ocean waste. In line with the eco-friendly theme,

we collected the plogging tools after lending them out, and had participants use reusable containers to take

their snacks in. The person with the heaviest load collected was given a special reward, giving incentive and

creating friendly competition among participants to collect more waste and receive more snacks. Large

amounts of everything from cigarette butts to cans and plastic bags were collected, and the heaviest item

was a discarded fishing net weighing 12.6kg.

Besides raising awareness on the ocean waste issue, the campaign also raised the fun factor and challenged the idea of what environmental activism should look like.

- 709kg of ocean waste collected

- 2,021 participants on weekends July - August

- 100+ news coverage on KBS, MBC, SBS, Yonhap and other major networks

- Over 10 million people exposed to online and offline content

“Picked up litter from the beach and got whale- and squid-shaped snacks” / Hankook Ilbo “Magic that turns ocean waste into snacks” / Kids Donga “A changing vacation trend… Millennials and Gen Z picking up ocean waste” / NEWS 1 “A fun solution to the coastal waste problem” / Greenpeace