- Kia hailed ‘Sustainability Disruptor of the Year’ at the 2025 Newsweek Auto Disruptor Awards in New York City
- Across three years of partnership with The Ocean Cleanup, Kia has significantly advanced the development of a circular resource system to tackle ocean plastic pollution
- Since the partnership’s inception, Kia has been instrumental in supporting The Ocean Cleanup’s initiative to remove plastic from the Great Pacific Garbage Patch
- Kia’s ongoing dedication to environmental endeavors with The Ocean Cleanup underscores its commitment to long-term sustainability
SEOUL, South Korea, April 16, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — Kia today announced that it has won ‘Sustainability Disruptor of the Year’ at the 2025 Newsweek Auto Disruptor Awards, in recognition of the brand’s three-year partnership with The Ocean Cleanup and its initiatives to remove legacy plastics from the world’s oceans. This prestigious award highlights Kia’s commitment to environmental sustainability and its ongoing support of The Ocean Cleanup’s large-scale efforts to extract plastic from the ocean.
Since the launch of the partnership in 2022, Kia has played an integral role in The Ocean Cleanup’s operations, contributing financial resources, technical expertise, and in-kind support, including logistical, mobility and research assistance, to accelerate the removal of plastic waste from the ocean. The collaboration has also led to tangible progress in developing a circular resource system for ocean plastic through innovations in recycling and its application in Kia accessories.
As Kia and The Ocean Cleanup mark three years of collaboration, the Newsweek ‘Sustainability Disruptor of the Year’ award – which celebrates the brands driving transformative change in the automotive industry – underscores the organizations’ multiple achievements in environmental sustainability. To date, the partnership has contributed to the removal of over one million pounds of plastic from the world’s largest accumulation of floating waste – the Great Pacific Garbage Patch – located between the west coast of the US and Hawaii, and covering an area three times the size of France.
Charles Ryu, Executive Vice President and Head of Kia’s Global Brand & CX Division, said: “Over the past three years, our partnership with The Ocean Cleanup has had a real impact on the amount of plastic waste in our oceans. This collaboration continues to drive scalable and lasting solutions for cleaner waterways, reinforcing Kia’s commitment to sustainability while strengthening our presence across The Ocean Cleanup’s growing global footprint.”
Julian Searle, Chief Development Officer at The Ocean Cleanup, commented: “Kia’s support in advancing our ocean cleanup initiatives marks an essential step toward achieving our broader goal of ridding the world’s oceans of plastic. This partnership embodies the power of collaboration and innovation in addressing plastic pollution. By working closely with Kia, we can make significant progress towards achieving our mission and contributing to the restoration of ocean health for people and the planet.”
Three years after the launch of Kia’s partnership with The Ocean Cleanup, the collaboration continues to evolve, with plans to expand support for river cleanup initiatives in the future. By tackling plastic pollution at its source, Kia and The Ocean Cleanup aim to further strengthen their commitment to cleaning the world’s oceans and advancing long-term sustainability.
Kia’s ongoing partnership with The Ocean Cleanup aligns with the brand’s broader sustainability goals. Beyond cleanup operations, Kia and The Ocean Cleanup will continue to drive innovation in ocean plastic recycling, supporting research and development aimed at integrating recycled materials into future mobility solutions.
Kia Corporation – about us
Kia (www.kia.com) is a global mobility brand with a vision to create sustainable mobility solutions for consumers, communities, and societies around the world. Founded in 1944, Kia has been providing mobility solutions for more than 75 years. With 52,000 employees worldwide, a presence in more than 190 markets, and manufacturing facilities in six countries, the company today sells around three million vehicles a year. Kia is spearheading the popularization of electrified and battery electric vehicles and developing a growing range of mobility services, encouraging millions of people around the world to explore the best ways of getting around. The company’s brand slogan – ‘Movement that inspires’ – reflects Kia’s commitment to inspire consumers through its products and services.
For more information, visit the Kia Global Media Center at www.kianewscenter.com
About The Ocean Cleanup
The Ocean Cleanup is an international, mission driven, non-profit that develops and scales technologies to rid the world’s oceans of plastic. They aim to achieve this goal through a dual strategy: intercepting in rivers to stop the flow and cleaning up what has already accumulated in the ocean. For the latter, The Ocean Cleanup develops and deploys large-scale systems to efficiently concentrate the plastic for periodic removal. This plastic is tracked and traced to certify claims of origin when recycling it into new products. To curb the tide via rivers, The Ocean Cleanup has developed Interceptor™ Solutions to halt and extract riverine plastic before it reaches the ocean. As of March 2025, the non-profit has collected over 21 million kilograms (46.2 million pounds) of trash from aquatic ecosystems around the world. Founded in 2013 by Boyan Slat, The Ocean Cleanup now employs a broadly multi-disciplined team of approximately 200 people. The foundation is headquartered in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, and opened its first regional office in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, in 2023.
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SOURCE Kia America
