“Just one big idea. One big idea and we can change the word!”

Eco Crab Industries is Christmas Island’s newest Island Clean Taskforce. These enviro-legends are tackling the global marine debris issue head on and making a difference piece by piece. Here founders Tanya Cross and Jake Oakley tell us more about their operation and what they’ve been up to…

Have you ever wanted to travel to your very own tropical Island? Relaxing all day on the sand. Watching the wildlife, listening to the waves; doing absolutely nothing for days at a time. Ahhhh….. well that WAS part of the plan. Island life was calling and we were keen to answer.

We are Jake & Tanya aka Eco Crab Industries! Christmas Islands newest Island Clean Taskforce. Our current mission is – to repurpose community waste & ocean debris washed up on our Island into ‘green’ products.

It was early 2019, and upon arriving back on Christmas Island after a brief stint on the mainland, we discovered that the ocean waste washing ashore was not stopping. It was in fact, getting much worse.

Christmas Island, known as the Kingdom of Crabs and described by Sir David Attenborough as the Galapagos of the Indian Ocean, is a tropical wonder! As there was no official recycling operation in situ the biggest idea of our lives was created! Enter… Eco Crab Industries.

 

We currently have small scale equipment (built by us), to remould and repurpose plastic found on our beaches and in the community. With this we have successfully produced boardwalk planks, boat-trailer skids, tiles, beams and will continue a trial production of 3D Printer filament and other useful reusable products- all from 100% recycled plastic!

Since our start up we have co-hosted multiple beach clean ups, not only with the Royal Australian Navy and students from Christmas Island District High, but also with our Christmas Island Shire & Island Care– who, coincidentally, now host us in our own recycling and workshop centre! The first one ever to be on Christmas Island. Because of this we have gained interest from Cocos Keeling Shire to produce low scale plastic recycling machines for them to start their own recycling of plastic waste! How’s that for kicking goals!

 

 

At a recent 2020 Change Your World Conference we met Micah from Reformative Media, a talented young man from Perth, Western Australia. We are now collaborating with him to produce a short film called ‘Saving Islands’ our aim is to inspire other ordinary people to take action. Watch this space!

 

There have been many hurdles so far in our Eco journey, but by far the best thing along the way is discovering an amazing group of supportive, inspiring individuals looking to change the world. We hope you will join us on this journey. Together we can all save our own small piece of paradise.

 

Tanya & Jake

The Eco Crab Industries Team