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Film star Jason Momoa might have hung up his Aquaman trident, however his quest to guard the seven seas is way from over. His newest enterprise, Mananalu Powered by Boomerang Water, goals to deal with one of many world’s most urgent environmental challenges: plastic waste. Alongside Boomerang Water co-founders U.S. Air Power veteran Jason Dibble and Wall Avenue monetary knowledgeable Jerrod Freund, the actor and advocate is bringing star energy to sustainable options for water conservation.
Greater than only a position
Momoa’s connection to the ocean runs deeper than his superhero persona. A proud native Hawaiian, he has lengthy championed environmental causes, serving as a UNEP spokesperson for the Life Under Water initiative.
However advocacy alone wasn’t sufficient to fulfill his ardour for shielding the planet. In 2019, he took motion by founding Mananalu, a sustainable water firm that packages ingesting water in recyclable aluminum bottles and operates on a “purchase one, take away one” mannequin — eradicating plastic bottles from oceans with each buy. Now powered by Boomerang, Mananalu is relaunching as a B2B on-site bottling system, aiming to offer wholesome water to everybody with out single-use waste.
“What Boomerang has constructed is one thing I at all times dreamed of however did not know the right way to make occur,” Momoa stated. “Utilizing native water sources in each state? That type of intricate resolution wasn’t accessible till now.”
Boomerang’s round expertise is already lowering waste in motels, faculties and hospitals. Preliminary installations are up and operating at The Twin Fin Lodge, Romer Home Waikiki, Kaimana Seaside Lodge and Alohilani Resort Waikiki Seaside, serving to Hawaii grow to be much less depending on mainland water shipments.
“Companies wish to make a distinction, and the B2B method permits us to achieve broader audiences with fewer touchpoints,” stated Boomerang Co-Founder Jerrod Freund. “When Mananalu initially took the CPG route, it generated nice consciousness, however you want extra instruments to create actual impression and implement change. Jason’s involvement performed a serious position in Mananalu’s progress,” Freund says. “So, we thought, why not apply that very same ideology to companies?”
“At first, it was about eliminating single-use plastics. Now it is about lowering all waste and re-teaching generations,” Momoa explains. He compares the system to the old school milkman mannequin, the place full bottles are delivered, and empty ones are overlooked for reuse. “Boomerang drives the automotive, reveals up at your step, picks up a crate, and says, ‘Thanks quite a bit! Say hello to your mom for me.’ It is modern-day supply,” the actor shares enthusiastically, dubbing himself “the Mananalu man.”
Picture Credit score: Mananalu Powered by Boomerang
Insurgent with a trigger
Earlier than his large break in performing, Momoa was learning to grow to be the world’s most muscular marine biologist. Although he admits he wasn’t the most effective pupil, his ardour for the setting has at all times been palpable. “I grew up loving the ocean and caring concerning the setting,” Momoa says. “However I lived in two very completely different worlds — Iowa and the west facet of Hawaii — and neither place actually prioritized it. However preventing for it was enjoyable. It made me really feel like a insurgent, and I’m a insurgent.”
Many years later, his superstar standing has given him a platform to show his lifelong dedication to environmental change right into a tangible actuality.
“It is actually serendipitous that I ended up changing into Aquaman, and now I get to fulfill unimaginable scientists and individuals who can assist me make an actual distinction,” Momoa says.
Dibble shares this sentiment of serendipity, reflecting on how unimaginable it was that he and Momoa crossed paths. “It is like, you are engaged on constructing this model, and immediately, the man who represents Aquaman is sitting subsequent to you,” Dibble laughs. “It is actually wild.”
The Boomerang founders first met Momoa after realizing their sustainable water firms shared a associate in Ball Corp. “We would been in parallel talks with these companions, and at one level they stated, ‘You guys ought to most likely simply get collectively,'” Freund provides. “It made numerous sense.”
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Fight zones to conservationism
Dibble first considered the concept for Boomerang Water in 2003, throughout the first of his three excursions with the U.S. army in Afghanistan. “If you arrive, they hand you an enormous bottle of water and say, ‘You drink with it, you cook dinner with it, you sweep your enamel with it,” the co-founder shared. “In the meantime, you’re taking showers utilizing the native water. On daily basis, planes would fly in with extra bottled water, and I stored considering, What’s going on right here?“
Past the inconvenience, the system created an immense quantity of plastic waste. And what do they do with all these empty bottles? “We burned them in pits,” Dibble recollects. “I keep in mind considering, That is the dumbest thought on the earth.“
He could not perceive why the army wasn’t utilizing the water accessible on-site. Not solely did flying in bottled water appear wasteful, nevertheless it additionally posed a safety threat.
Dibble went on three extra missions, the place the issue solely worsened. “I stored asking myself, There’s received to be a greater method,” he says. “And it isn’t simply the army — you see it in all places. The proliferation of plastic bottles needed to change.” It took years, however Dibble believes Boomerang Water might be the answer.
Although his time because the protector of the Seven Seas has ended on display screen, Jason Momoa’s dedication to environmental progress endures. “I am useless set on banning single-use plastics,” the actor says. “That is an enormous objective for me.”
Whereas he confessed to “borrowing” objects from the Aquaman set throughout his look on Jimmy Kimmel Stay, essentially the most significant factor Momoa took wasn’t a memento — it was the titular hero’s mission to guard the ocean.
