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 Pressure veteran Jason Dibble and Wall Road monetary skilled Jerrod Freund, the actor and advocate is bringing star energy to sustainable options for water conservation.

Greater than only a function

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 Beneath Water initiative.

However advocacy alone wasn’t sufficient to fulfill his ardour for protecting the planet. In 2019, he took motion by founding Mananalu, a sustainable water firm that packages consuming 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 learn how to make occur,” Momoa stated. “Utilizing native water sources in each state? That sort of intricate answer wasn’t accessible till now.”

Boomerang’s round know-how is already decreasing waste in inns, faculties and hospitals. Preliminary installations are up and working at The Twin Fin Resort, Romer Home Waikiki, Kaimana Seashore Resort and Alohilani Resort Waikiki Seashore, serving to Hawaii develop into 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 significant function in Mananalu’s development,” 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 decreasing all waste and re-teaching generations,” Momoa explains. He compares the system to the old style milkman mannequin, the place full bottles are delivered, and empty ones are not noted for reuse. “Boomerang drives the automobile, reveals up at the doorstep, picks up a crate, and says, ‘Thanks loads! 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 huge break in appearing, Momoa was finding out to develop into the world’s most muscular marine biologist. Although he admits he wasn’t the most effective pupil, his ardour for the atmosphere has at all times been palpable. “I grew up loving the ocean and caring in regards to the atmosphere,” Momoa says. “However I lived in two very totally different worlds — Iowa and the west aspect of Hawaii — and neither place actually prioritized it. However combating for it was enjoyable. It made me really feel like a insurgent, and I’m a insurgent.”

A long time later, his celebrity status 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 turning into Aquaman, and now I get to fulfill unimaginable scientists and individuals who will help 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 thought for Boomerang Water in 2003, throughout the first of his three excursions with the U.S. navy in Afghanistan. “Once you arrive, they hand you an enormous bottle of water and say, ‘You drink with it, you prepare dinner with it, you sweep your enamel with it,” the co-founder shared. “In the meantime, you are taking showers utilizing the native water. Every single day, planes would fly in with extra bottled water, and I saved considering, What’s going on right here?“

Past the inconvenience, the system created an immense amount of plastic waste. And what do they do with all these empty bottles? “We burned them in pits,” Dibble remembers. “I bear in mind considering, That is the dumbest concept on this planet.“

He could not perceive why the navy 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 saved asking myself, There’s bought to be a greater means,” he says. “And it is not simply the navy — you see it in all places. The proliferation of plastic bottles needed to change.” It took years, however Dibble believes Boomerang Water could possibly be the answer.

Although his time because the protector of the Seven Seas has ended on display, Jason Momoa’s dedication to environmental progress endures. “I am useless set on banning single-use plastics,” the actor says. “That is a large objective for me.”

Whereas he confessed to “borrowing” objects from the Aquaman set throughout his look on Jimmy Kimmel Live, probably the most significant factor Momoa took wasn’t a memento — it was the titular hero’s mission to guard the ocean.